


A Demigod out of time

by RedBlood_Moon



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Annabeth Chase is a Good Friend, Book 1: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson), Butterfly Effect, Doing it all over again, Everyone is a Good Friend, Kronos is an asshole, Percy Jackson is a Good Friend, Percy is trying his best, Things stay the same until they don't, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBlood_Moon/pseuds/RedBlood_Moon
Summary: His life was a chain of one misfortune after another, but at least he always came out on top... more or less. And of course, he had his friends and his mom, and even Paul, who knew and understood him. Being in the past wouldn't be too bad if they were here with him and had his back, but sadly nothing could ever be that easy.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Bianca di Angelo & Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo & Percy Jackson, Charles Beckendorf & Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood
Comments: 44
Kudos: 174





	1. Prologue

**A Demigod out of time**

**Prologue I**

The Titan Lord advanced with blinding speed, but Percy was prepared.

Well, as prepared as he could be, considering he was fighting the most powerful Titan and father to the oldest gods. He barely managed to block the first swing, and then the second, before he retreated further back from his foe.

He was rather lucky that Kronos was still limited by the body he possessed.

By Luke's body.

Not that there was much left of Annabeth's old friend. Her beaten body lying motionless at the edge of his vision, too far away to see if she was just unconscious or worse, was proof to that.

Kronos' voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"You should give up, Jackson!" he shouted. "You are too exhausted to continue fighting, barely able to lift your sword! You were outmatched from the beginning, but now? You aren't even fit enough to continue entertaining me! Give up now, and I will grant you a fast and painless death."

Percy smiled slightly, he just couldn't help himself.

Kronos was right, he was too exhausted to continue fighting. He could barely stay standing! But still, that was his great speech? That sounded more like the talk of some minor villain in some of the old comics he liked to read when he was younger. You couldn't get more cliche, even if you tried.

Honestly, he had expected something better from the Titan Lord.

"Sorry Grandpa," he said, and he could see how this title annoyed the Titan, "but as I was told several times in the past; I'm rather stubborn and don't know when enough is enough. I fear we need to end this the hard way."

Kronos waited a moment before he answered him, and when he did, he did so with a cruel smile on his face.

"Well then, so be it. At least you can die with the knowledge that it was the rightful ruler of the world who ended your life. That should give you more than enough bragging rights to impress all the souls in the Underworld, don't you think so?"

The moment he finished his sentence his body began to glow.

It started with his eyes; the once blue eyes of Luke Castellan, which had turned golden after Kronos took possession of his body, now more resembled two little suns.

It took only a few seconds before the glowing golden light spread all over his body.

Percy instantly knew what was happening. Kronos didn't need Luke's body any longer, so he wanted to dispose of it. Should he succeed and be able to transform into his true immortal form, then it would be over for real. Nothing would be able to stop him.

He needed to do _something._ All the pain, all the suffering, and all the death he and his friends had endured would have been for nothing if he failed now.

Percy summoned all of his will and forced himself to walk towards Kronos, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that told him how much the Titan resembled an evolving Pokemon. _Not the time, brain!_

The closer he came to the Titan, the more unbearable the heat of the light became. But he forced himself to continue onward, never stopping or slowing down.

It felt like hours to finally reach him, even if it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. At this point he felt like he was burning, the sensation worse than even the time he blew up Mount St. Helens.

He swung his sword.

He honestly didn't expect it to work. After all, Kronos (or was it Luke? Did it made a difference?) had bathed in the River Styx. He was invulnerable, just as he was, and he didn't know his weak spot. No, the only reason he bothered to even attack Kronos was, because he couldn't do _nothing_!

So imagine his surprise when his sword actually cut right through Kronos' body with ease, without ever hitting any resistance.

He would like to say that his last thoughts, before an explosion of golden light pulverized him, were about his friend; about Annabeth, Thalia, Grover and even his Mom and Paul. But, as it is so often, the truth was rather disappointing.

The last thing he _actually_ thought about, before his sword and Kronos exploded in a golden light, was the question of what _Zoë Nightshade_ would have to say if she found out that he had broken her sword.

* * *

It wasn't an understatement to say that Percy was confused when he first woke up.

He remembered, rather distinctly he might add, dying in an explosion of pure energy. He was also pretty sure that said energy burned his body to a pile of ashes.

For a moment he entertained the thought that he arrived in the Underworld, but he discarded this idea soon after. After all, if he were dead he wouldn't be so... comfortable. Sure, the Elysium might be, but before he could go there ( _if he actually deserved to be there,_ a silent and unwanted voice in his head added) he would need to be judged by the spirits first.

As this hadn't happened yet, he couldn't be in the Underworld. This, in turn, meant, that he was still alive.

He opened his eyes, expecting to see his cabin at camp or even his room in his mom's apartment. Instead, he saw an unknown but still somehow familiar-looking room.

Reflexes kicked in and one moment later he stood in the middle of the room, his hand already in his pocket to grasp his sword, only to find it missing.

 _That_ was definitively not something he expected, Riptide _always_ returned to him, but he didn't have time to think more about it. First, he needed to find out where he was.

He slowly turned around, expecting a monster of even Kronos to jump out of some shadow to attack him like in some cheap horror movie, but nothing happened. As he took the room in he couldn't help but think that he knew this place. There was just something familiar about it, even if he couldn't put his finger on it.

The room was more or less empty. The right and the left half of the room had identically furniture; a wardrobe, a desk with a matching chair and a bed.

Only the half of the room where the bed he woke up in stood seemed to be in use, though. Clothes lay on the floor and the chair, open books on the desk and he could see an old backpack lying half under the bed.

Again, all of this seemed rather familiar.

There were two doors, one of which was open and seemingly lead to a bathroom. Deciding that the room seemed safe so far, he walked towards the bathroom to check it out too.

The first thing he noticed after he turned on the lights was the mirror hanging there right in front of him.

The second thing he noticed was that the face that looked back at him was several years too young to be his, while still being definitively _him_.

He blinked.

He would later deny that he shrieked like Annabeth when she saw a spider -because _he didn't_!- and nearly fell unconscious from the shock of this sight, but he couldn't deny that he was lost.

After he saw his reflection in the mirror he had somewhat of a panic attack. He checked every surface he could find to see if they showed the same image, hoping that the mirror was _somehow_ defect.

He wouldn't have needed to bother.

Just looking down on his body was enough to see that he was much smaller than he remembered. This wasn't the body of a sixteen years old demigod who has trained for years and went through as much as he did. No, this was the body of a child.

He needed a bit more than an hour to calm down.

At this point, he also finally recognized the room he found himself in. This was his old dorm room from his middle school days in Yancy Academy. Also, if the calendar he found lying on the desk wasn't completely outdated, then it meant it was 2005.

He was no child of Athena, but he was not stupid.

He had the body of a child, presumable his eleven or twelve years old body, after waking up in his room at a school he didn't visit in four years.

There weren't that many conclusions he could come to. Sure, he may have just gone mad or something, but he preferred to exclude this possibility from his mind. There was no reason to go down _this_ road quite yet, thank you very much.

For now, the possibility that he somehow travelled back in time, to barely a week after his enrollment ceremony in Yancy, seemed to be the most likely outcome.

Especially if you considered the fact that he 'died' because of the energy that was unleashed when Kronos' Divine Form exploded. He was the Titan Lord of _Time_ , after all.

 _So,_ Percy wondered, _what am I to do now?_

* * *

Two days later he still wasn't any closer to an answer. He knew he wanted to change things, make everything better for everyone, no matter how hollow he felt when he thought about being forced to do live his life all over again. Sure, he wanted to help his friends and family, he knew his fatal flaw was loyalty, but going through the hardships of his life all over again? He couldn't say he was too enthusiastic about that.

He had tried to make plans of what to change, and how to change it, but was not really successful. He realized very fast that even small changes could have a big impact.

For example, he could confront Luke earlier and maybe even save him in the progress. That sounded nice, but ignored all the resulting consequences. Without Luke, Kronos would be forced to change his plans. Percy couldn't predict how much this would change his future plots, because he didn't know how much Luke was included in the planning process. Events may just completely change from what he remembered. And while he knew this would happen anyway, he wanted it to happen on _his_ terms. Not on Kronos'.

Besides, he had watched enough movies an listened to enough rant of Annabeth and his mom after the finished reading their latest book to know a few things about time travel; changing too much too fast meant you lost control over the situation while changing not enough or even nothing at all meant that you were wasting the opportunity you were given.

How could he convince everyone that Luke, well-liked and respected Luke, was a traitor? Especially when he had no proof!

He really wished Annabeth were here with him. She was much better with this long-term thinking than him.

In his defence, he was rather distracted by the fact that he went to school with kids who were four years younger than him! One of these kids being Nancy Bobofit didn't help at all. He was really lucky that she didn't try to bully him yet because he didn't know how he should react to it. After all, he went through, Nancy Bobofit wasn't really worth mentioning. If he remembered correctly, then she didn't start picking on him until he befriended Grover. Even then she concentrated much more on him than on Percy. Probably because he was an easier victim.

Speaking of Grover...

"Class, please welcome Mister Grover Underwood. Because of his medical condition, he wasn't able to attend the enrollment ceremony last week, so please do your best to make him feel welcome."

Percy was happy to see Grover, he really was. After all the quests they went on together and all the fights they survived side by side, he would love nothing more than just enjoy the (comparatively) easy time they had together at school.

Especially because Grover was the only other student in his 'age group' who was actually older than twelve.

But there were two problems with that:

First, Grover was a Satyr. This meant, that he had the ability to feel the emotions of other people. How could he possibly explain the feelings of dread and anxiety he would undoubtedly feel as soon as Mrs Dodds aka Alecto became their new pre-algebra teacher?

Now, I know what you are thinking: _But Percy, Grover is your best friend, isn't he? Why don't you just tell him the truth?_

Well, that's rather easy to answer. It's because...

Second, Grover is a _terrible_ liar. If he told him the truth, he could as well tell everyone else. Kronos himself would probably know before the week was over, and that would be really... _bad_.

So, what to do?

The only way of stopping Grover from finding out something, or at least the only way he could think of, was by not becoming too close to him this time around.

Satyrs could feel emotions, yes, but this ability had limits. He remembered that Grover once told him that it was easier to feel the emotions of people he was close to. The emotions of others were more like background noises. Also, the only reason he could feel Percy's emotions as well as he could was because he had established an Empathy Link between them.

By not being his best friends, this wouldn't be a problem.

It stung that he wouldn't be able to joke with Grover as much as he used to, and he felt like an ass every time he told Grover that he would prefer to eat on his own in the cafeteria instead of letting him join him, but it was necessary. Also, he only needed to do this until he could go to the camp. Once he arrived there he would make it up to him.

Now, that didn't mean they hadn't contact at all. They shared a room - _what a 'coincident'_ \- and if one of the teachers asked the class to pair up or form groups the usually ended up together.

Still, it wasn't quite the same. You could compare his relationship with Grover to the one most students have with this one person in their class they would talk to in school but never meet afterwards.

He doubted he would ever be used to it.

* * *

It was barely his third week after waking up in the past that he had his first demigod dream, but he wasn't really complaining. No matter how disturbing his demigod dreams tended to be, they were still better than the usual nightmares he had ever since finding out about the wording of the Great Prophecy and which became only worse since he was back in time.

He was in his dorm room, just sitting in his bed and wondering what he was doing there when three old ladies appeared in front of him. Obviously, considering his experiences with old ladies, his first reaction was to jump up and prepare to fight them to death.

...which, if you told some stranger without knowledge of the gods, probably sounded pretty weird.

"Percy Jackson," the first woman spoke up with a croaking voice, "we knew you would bring trouble wherever you went, but we didn't expect it to happen so soon. Nor did with thought it would happen to us."

"You weren't supposed to be aware so soon, neither of your heritage nor of the threats to come," the second one said, her voice sounding like the one of a young woman instead of matching her appearance.

"You brought chaos into many threads, destroying many hours of hard work," the last woman said, her voice strangely high-pitched.

He stood still, ready to bolt or fight at any sign of them attacking him when he realized he had seen them once before, many years ago when he went home after he was kicked out of Yancy Academy.

His eyes widened. "You're the Fates?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

When he had told Chiron about the three old ladies the first time around he had been just as shocked as everyone else, but not because of the entirely same reasons. If the bad sign of them cutting yarn in front of him wasn't bad enough already, Chiron also knew that the Fates usually didn't show themselves in front of others in the first place. That they did so this time had visibly disturbed him when he explained it to Percy later on.

"Indeed," the woman who had spoken first said. "I am Atropos, the Fate of Death."

"I am Lachesis, the Fate of Life," the second woman spoke up.

"And I am Clotho, the Fate of Birth," the last woman said at least.

"And you, Perseus Jackson," they said in simultaneity, "defied Fate."

"Excuse me?" he spluttered. "How exactly do you think I did that? It's hardly my fault I was thrown back in time, but-"

"We know it didn't happen because of any fault of yours," Atropos interrupted him, "but you're still here, in the past, living a different life than expected of you."

"Well," he said miffed, "my life was a whole bunch of crap anyway. Honestly, do you hate me or anything? And now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I vowed I would hit you if I ever met you in person..."

The three women seemed more amused by his rambling than everything else, which was probably for the better. The last thing he needed was for the Fates to make his life even worse.

"As it is," Lachesis spoke up again, "we found a way to limit the damage of your arrival. And no," she added when he was just about to interrupt her, "it's not by killing you or wiping your mind."

"Well, what's your great idea then?" he wanted to know, genuinely curious now.

"The Great Prophecy still applies, and too much depends on it as to just toss it away, so we changed its meaning in a way that it still applies even now," Lachesis continued, and Percy was pretty sure he didn't imagine her voice sounding smug while saying that.

Now all three of them spoke up at the same time again:

 _"_ _A half-blood of the eldest gods_

_Shall reach sixteen against all odds_

_And see the world in endless sleep_

_The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_

_A single choice shall end his days_

_Olympus to preserve or raze_ "

"You're a half-blood of the eldest gods, you reached the age of sixteen, and the future you come from will never come to pass in exactly the same manner as before. This future that stopped to exist is a world you have memories of, a world you will dream of, and a world that stands still, forever unchanged. A world in endless sleep, nothing but a possibility that might be," Clotho explained to him.

"The next lines are a bit more tricky," Atropos continued, "but we managed them as well. Your soul, The hero's soul, was reaped by the energy emitted by Kronos. When he exploded so did his Scythe, which is his symbol of power and directly connected to him. Even your own sword, in view of its history, can be considered cursed, and it also exploded in Kronos' energy, so you were, in a way, exposed to the energy of two weapons that can be called cursed even if only one of them is technically a blade. Your soul got transported back in time, which means you're future self is dead in a way, and that is close enough to satisfy the phrasing 'The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap'."

"'A single choice shall end his days' is much easier in comparison," Lachesis added. "You chose to fight Kronos when he was about to dispose of the body of the son of Hermes instead of lying down and accept your defeat. This choice end your days and sent you back in time. Only the last sentence, 'Olympus to preserve or raze', is left, and this is also the last part yet to happen." She looked right into his eyes with frightening intensity. "The rest is up to you."

"Wait!" he cried. "So the prophesy counts for this world and my old one? How is that even possible? Besides, I'm pretty sure some parts of this explanation don't even make sense!"

"It is possible because you serve as a link between the different timelines," Lachesis said, "and it does make sense because we say so."

He ignored how she definitively sounded very smug when she said that last part.

"There is one more thing, Perseus Jackson," Atropos said before he could open his mouth so speak up himself. "You're not allowed to speak about the future with anyone."

"What? Why?" he exclaimed. While he couldn't tell Grover yet, he had hoped to tell at least Chiron, and probably Annabeth and his mom too. Maybe even the gods, or at least a few of them.

"Your presence changed too much already, and the different choices that lay in your future will only continue making changes. All the work we put into our threads is in chaos and we were just barely able to bring order back. If other people gain knowledge of the future this effect would only get worse. We can't let this happen."

His shoulders sank. What was he supposed to do now? He might not be stupid but planning what to change and what not was a bit too much for him alone. Scratch that, it was way too much! He would never be able to keep track of all the little changes and their consequences, that would have been Annabeth's job.

He didn't want to play God.

"So there is really nobody I can talk with about this?" he asked resigned, not really expecting an answer, which meant he was all the more surprised when he actually got one.

"There might be one," Clotho said, ignoring the disapprovingly stares of her sisters, "a single person that might cross paths with you. An old friend. It will depend on your decisions though, so make sure-"

"That's enough!" Atropos interrupted her annoyed. "You told him enough, now it's up to him."

Clotho tilted her head in silent agreement while repeating 'up to him' under her breath.

"This meeting is over, young Hero," Lachesis said. "We said what he came for, you now know your purpose. You're the one with knowledge of the war to come, your decisions will form the future. Act wisely, or suffer the consequences."

His eyes widened and he took a step forward. "No, wait, I still have questions. You can't just-"

But he was too late. The Fates faded out of sight and one second later he woke up, breathing heavily. He looked around frantically, hoping against all odds that he would see one of the old ladies still standing somewhere in his room, but was disappointed. For a moment he considered if he should look for them in the bathroom or inside one of the wardrobes, but finally decided that it would be pointless.

He sighed. It seemed he would be on his own, shouldering the weight of the world once again. No pressure at all.

 _Fate is a bitch,_ he thought with a sigh, and if he sounded more tired than ever, well, no one needed to know.

* * *

He wasn't ashamed to confess that he cried a bit when he visited his mother over Christmas. Not even Gabe (and holy Zeus, he couldn't wait until he turned to stone again! If there was one thing he was definitively _not_ changing, it was this) could ruin this moment, even if it seemed like he was trying to do just that.

This was also the moment he decided, that he would tell her the truth if the entire "My teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill me"-thing repeated itself, which was very likely. Maybe if he did that they could reach Camp Half-Blood before the Minotaur reached them and Hades kidnapped his mother.

As soon as the weather started to fall into chaos shortly after the winter solstice was over he knew that Zeus' Master Bolt has been stolen once again.

Percy wasn't surprised when they were told shortly after the solstice that they would have a new pre-algebra teacher. Honestly, he was actually relieved! At least now he only needed to wonder if his teacher was going to kill him today or not, something he was already familiar with, instead of all the apprehension he felt when he wondered when she would finally arrive. He preferred to deal with a problem he could see instead of one that was only in his head.

So yes, when finally a familiar-looking small woman, who could have been in her fifty's, appeared in their classroom, wearing her typical leather jacket and looking at him with her evil little eyes, he was relieved.

Then it really got to him that he had one of the three Furies, head tortures in the Underworld, as his teacher for the rest of the school year.

Again.

For some reason, the thought that he already survived this situation once when he wasn't even trained yet didn't calm him down at all.

_Oh damn._

Not even two weeks later 'Mr. Brunner' became their new history teacher and Percy guessed that Grover had written him after recognizing that their pre-algebra teacher was actually a monster.

You know, he hadn't really thought about it, but school was so much easier this time around. Sure, he still wasn't a Straight-A Student, be he got the occasional B in addition to his usual C. A far cry from the last time he attended Yancy.

Honestly, school wasn't too important for him. He had been too busy trying to safe the Western Civilization time and time again, there was just not enough time to care about normal mortal education if you weren't a child of Athena. Not that he would ever tell that Annabeth, she would skin him alive.

But if nothing else, at least his Mom would be happy about his better grades. That alone made it worth it.

He wasn't sure how he survived Yancy the last time around. The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable it became that he actually managed to kill _Alecto_ as an untrained kid.

The field trip was next week and he had a feeling that he would need to fight her again, no matter if he demonstrated any powers like the last time or not.

He was as prepared as he could be; since he awoke in the past he tried to do more sport, to be faster and stronger than in the original timeline.

Of course, he was still only a twelve-year-old kid, which meant his body's potential wasn't too great to begin with. Also, he was still busy with schoolwork, so he had a very limited time frame he could use for training. Especially if he wanted to keep the extent of his training a secret from Grover and Mr Brunner.

Still, he liked to think that he was at least better off than last time around, for all the good it would do him.

He had had one year time to get his act together and plan how he wanted to handle all the trouble and quests he would get himself into over the next few years. While he had still no idea about a lot of things, he had at least a rough idea about how he wanted to proceed from now.

A _very_ rough idea was still better than no idea at all, wasn't it? And he had always been better at improvising anyway.

 _Well,_ he thought _, I guess now it begins?_


	2. The Lightning Thief I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are interested, here is a short note about what I have planned regarding the changes in the timeline:  
> Percy hasn't had many opportunities to change anything yet, so the plot of the first book - Luke steals Zeus' lightning, he accuses Poseidon, Percy goes on the quest to find it again, etc- will be similar at first sight. Of course, there will be changes already in this book because Percy will make different decisions and even the smallest things can have big consequences, but the big changes will only start happening in the second book. Minor details that happen in this book will make big waves, I promise you.

**A Demigod out of time**

**The Lightning Thief  
**

**I**

He said it before and he will say it again: he had no idea how he survived Alecto the first time around.

This time he knew what to expect and was prepared, but still got nearly killed. He could swear that Chiron needed longer to appear and throw him his sword than last time. He didn't want to sound snobby or anything, but he liked to think that his life was important enough to warren a certain amount of hurry.

Well, to be fair, things happened a bit different this time around. If you look at it like that you could argue that it was his own fault that Chiron came later to bring him a weapon, because he changed something in the timeline.

Until lunch break their trip went similar to the one he remembered, with the sole exception of him giving a _much_ better answer to 'Mr, Brunner's' question than before.

He had planned to act as normal as possible, hoping that that might be enough to prevent his fight with Alecto. Obviously, that didn't work out as well as he hoped it would. When lunch break started he pulled back from the masses of students, trying to find a quiet place where he could eat without being interrupted. Grover didn't even try to accompany him, he had given up on that after Percy repeatedly told him that he preferred to eat alone.

(He _knew_ that it was necessary to do so, but it didn't make him feel any better)

His plan started to fail the moment _Mrs Dodds_ of all people bumped into him, resulting in her food landing on his shirt.

„Oh no, I'm so sorry honey. Come, let's get you a clean shirt from the museum's souvenir shop, shall we?"

Gods, even when she tried so sound apologetic she sounded like the cruel monster she was.

He wasn't given a chance to react before she grabbed his arm and started pulling him with her, back into the museum. In hindsight, it may have been a terrible idea to get away from the group to a place where barely anyone could see him. Just saying.

From that point on, events happened quite the same as before; Mrs Dodds gave a short monologue about how he should confess and be spared much pain in return, Chiron appeared _at the very last damn second_ , he survived another encounter with his pre-algebra teacher, and nobody remembered her afterwards. He still acted as if he were confused about how everyone could forget their teacher when he was around Grover, who was still a terrible liar. No wonder he picked up on it even the first time this happened.

The biggest success of this field trip wasn't that he survived it though, but the fact that it didn't end in his expulsion from school. He could actually return to Yancy next year! He could already see the beaming face of his mother when she heard the news.

The other thing that would make her happy (and himself proud, not that he planned to tell that to anyone) was his report card. He was not even around the top of his grade, but it was still the best report card he had ever had.

When the school year was finally over he still sat together with Grover for the bus ride, this time fortunately without three old ladies cutting yarn. Meeting the three sisters once per timeline was more than enough, thank you very much, and not seeing someone's -probably his- lifeline being cut was much preferable to the opposite.

Later he allowed Grover to escort him home. He had kept him at arm's length all year along, so he gladly took the chance to spend some more time with him. He missed his best friend. He would need to make sure to spend some much needed time with the Satyr when they were at Camp, to build up their friendship to what it was supposed to be.

All that lead him to where he was now: his bedroom, waiting for his mother to arrive.

He had decided months ago that he would tell her what happened at the museum. This meant that they wouldn't be able to visit Montauk, but that was okay. He would make sure that they would visit it later when all the trouble with the Titans was over.

"Percy, are you there?"

He would recognize this voice everywhere. He turned around and there she stood; Sally Jackson, not just the best mother but also the best person in the entire world.

And that was a fact.

"Mom!"

The next thing he knew was, that they were hugging each other.

"Oh Percy," she sighed. "You've grown since Christmas."

For the next hour or so they sat together on his bed and he told her everything that he hadn't already mentioned in one of his regular letters. Like he suspected she was amazed by his report card and the fact that he could return to Yancy next year.

At this moment he decided that all the trouble this time travel thing brought with it would be absolutely worth it, if only because he could see his mother practically glow with happiness.

Then he came to the point in his story where the field trip began.

He didn't even need to act as if he wouldn't know what to say or as if he were uncomfortable, because neither of those things was a lie. He was uncomfortable, extremely so, and certainly didn't know where to begin.

"Percy, is everything alright? Did something happen?"

And there it was; every time he tried to keep something secret from her, she would make this face where it seemed like she could look into his very soul. He long since accepted that the only secrets he could keep from her were those, she allowed him to keep. Exactly the same thing had happened the last time when she noticed that something had scared him but decided she would wait until they were at their little hut in Montauk before she would press for more information.

Too bad that the Minotaur had been faster.

"I'm not sure. Maybe? You see, we went on this field trip, okay? To this museum, I forgot the name. About Greek and Roman history and mythology."

He could see her eyes widening slightly when he mentioned the 'Greek' part, but she hid it barely a second later.

_Huh,_ he thought, _I guess she knows where I'm going with this. Maybe not the part where I got nearly killed, but the part about the myths being real...or something like that. Oh, and she has a great poker face too, can't forget about that!_

"And what did you thought about it? Was it interesting?"

"I think so? It was hard to pay attention because Nancy and her friends kept talking and talking, but it was actually alright. Just,... I don't know how to say this without sounding stupid, but did you ever wondered if all this stuff might be real? The stories need to come from somewhere, don't they?"

He didn't dare to look up, because that would mean he would look into his mother's eyes. He didn't think he would like what he would see there.

"Sometimes, yes. What makes you ask that?

Oh fuck, he could definitively hear a slight tremble in her voice. And was that fear she was trying to hide? That wasn't good at all. He didn't want her to be scared, not at all. But what could he do? She wouldn't let it go now, not after he started talking about it. It was too late to stop now. He would just need to try to be as gentle as possible from now on and hope for the best.

"Okay, that may sound insane, as if I were crazy, but please hear me out okay? Do you remember this teacher I wrote to you about, Mrs Dodds? She was a...thing? Monster? I have no idea, but she kinda, well, transformed? Got even uglier than before, and with this big black wings. She talked about me being a thief or something, you know? And told me to confess. And okay, I'm no model student, but I'm not a thief, thank you very much! But, what I wanted to say is, s...s-she kinda tried to, well, kill me? And then Mr Brunner threw a pen at me, and then it was a sword and I kinda, you know, slashed at her? And she blew up? And nobody remembers her? And now that I said it out loud it sounds even crazier than when it was in my head, so can we maybe just ignore it and..."

He felt a pang in his chest. He hated lying to his mother, it made him feel like the worst person around. The worst thing was that he didn't even know if he would want to tell her the truth if he could. Wasn't it much better to keep it to himself and then solve everything without her knowing in how much danger he truly was? This was she wouldn't need to be as terrified as she would be otherwise, right?

Fortunately, his mother interrupted him before he was forced to think more about that.

"No, we can't ignore it, Percy, dear."

Her voice, which she somehow managed to make sound gentle and determined at the same time, cut him off. Okay, so maybe he had started rambling, but by Hades, this might be the most stressful situation in his entire life. Give him Kronos every day, but this? Nah, thank you, but no thank you.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't talk to you earlier. This shouldn't be the way you find out about all of this, it should have been more gentle and slowly. It is my fault because I wanted you to stay with me. I was selfish. I thought you would be safe, that Gabe would be enough, and now you nearly..."

She only whispered the last part, but he still heard it. He definitively couldn't let it stand like that. No way in Hades would he let his Mom think she acted selfishly. Not after she married _a thing_ like _Gabe_ for his sake.

"Okay, listen Mom: you are _not_ selfish! There is not one egoistic bone in your entire body, you hear me? I mean, you have barely any free time because you're always working, just for Gabe to use most of the money for his stupid beer and his stupid poker games, but you still spend many hours every week for volunteer work. And then, when I'm home from school, you still manage to find some free time to spend it with me!"

She didn't give any reaction to that besides a slight shaking of her head.

_Okay then,_ Percy decided, _I'll just change the topic then. No need for her to continue thinking about that._

"Has Grover anything to do with this 'keeping me safe' thing?" he asked.

This seemed to work. She raised her head, a slightly surprised expression on her face.

"Grover? He was supposed to keep an eye on you, to interfere if something bad happens. I guess it didn't work well at the museum..."

She sighed. Then she looked directly into his eyes, and all sadness and thoughts about her supposed egoism were forgotten. All he could see there was an unwavering determination.

Were one of his friends present, they would have noted how this was the exact same expression Percy wore every time he went into battle.

"Before we talk about Grover and the monster you met at the museum, we need to start at the beginning."

She took a deep breath before she continued:

"Let me tell you about your father."

* * *

Nearly two hours and only one single interruption by Gabe later he sat in the same Camaro that got blown up the last time he sat in it. This was something he hoped wouldn't repeat itself, no matter how much it would annoy Gabe. It just wasn't worth it. No, all he asked for was a nice and leisurely drive to Camp. Just him, his mother... and Grover.

After a lengthy and extensive explanation about his father, the gods and a dozen other things (honestly, how was it that his mother could give such an amazing explanation for everything while the introduction at Camp was so... dull? Forget it, stupid question; the answer was that his mother was simply amazing) he had shown his Mom the card Grover had given him earlier that day and they decided to call him.

Ten minutes later his Mom hat ' _convinced'_ Gabe once again to 'let them go to Montauk', only to pick up Grover around the corner of the street and then proceeded to drive to Camp Half-Blood.

"So," he finally said in an attempt to break the tense silence. "Mom said you're a Satyr. Half man half donkey, correct?"

The next moment the car was filled with noises of coughing and gulping, as Grover tried to get the can that he had been eating out of his throat. Percy couldn't help but smile at this. That was just the reaction he had expected from good ol' Grover.

"Goat! From my waist downwards I am a goat, not a donkey!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it. A goat, no donkey. Don't worry, I will remember that," he said unconvincingly, making Grover mock glare at him.

By the Gods, it felt so good to just goof around with Grover. He had missed this so much over the last year!

"You better. There are many Satyrs at Camp who would trample you to death over such an insult!"

"You know, Mom told me a bit about this this 'Camp Half-Blood', but in the end, she really didn't know too much. She has never been there before, after all, and got all her knowledge second-hand. Can you tell me a bit more about it? Like, what to do and what not to do? Such as this donkey/goat thing?"

The rest of the drive he listened to Grover listening up all the official and, more importantly, the unofficial rules of Camp Hal-Blood. He was surprised to learn that he actually _didn't_ know all of them himself already.

Frankly, he hadn't expected this drive to went as smoothly as it did. Surely if Hades wanted some Monster to attack them, just driving to Camp a few hours earlier than last time wouldn't matter?

But no attack came and finally, after a comfortable and surprisingly entertaining car drive, they could see Thalia's Pine Tree.


	3. The Lightning Thief II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter that's gonna follow canon this closely. Sure, the basic plot is still the same, but there will be enough deviations to keep it interesting. Look forward to it!

**A Demigod out of time**

**The Lightning Thief** **II**

"Do you have everything? Your toothbrush, cloths, some underwear..." his mom asked nervously before he interrupted her.

"Yeah Mom, geez, you act like I'm a little child. Not cool."

Was that something the twelve years old he would say? He wasn't sure, but judging by the small smile he spotted on his mother's face it didn't sound too weird. And it wasn't like she didn't know he actually liked it when she fussed about him. It may be slightly uncomfortable if she did it in front of others, like the one time when he went to Westover Hall with Annabeth and Thalia to help Grover saving Nico and Bianca and his mother had been the one to drive them there, but he really loved it because it displayed just how much she cared about him.

"I'm your mother. It's my job to worry about you."

"Yeah yeah, alright. But you know I can take care of myself."

He tried to sound grumpy when he said that.

He didn't succeed.

"I don't want to hurry you guys, but we should really go, Percy. I don't feel too great, standing outside the barrier and all, and your scent is really strong. There might be monsters nearby who get attracted by it."

He felt like Grover was overestimating the danger they were in, but he also didn't want to risk it. Not after they went all the way without interruption. No need to tempt Fate.

"Fine, just give us another secon-" he started to say before he was stopped by his mother's arms closing around him.

"I will miss you. Make sure you write to me, will you?"

He seriously doubted he would be able to write a letter while he was on the quest for Zeus' Master Bolt, but he nodded nonetheless. "I will miss you too, Mom."

No, he wasn't crying, you are!

* * *

A few minutes later they stood on top of Half-Blood Hill, right beside Thalia's Pine, and were overlooking the Camp. And by Zeus, if this wasn't a sight for the sore eyes.

The volleyball court, where are few campers were playing with a group of satyrs, was right in front of them. In the distance on their right, he could see the amphitheatre, and memories of all the nightly sing-alongs and other gatherings like the end-of-camp ceremony came to his mind. Just a bit behind the amphitheatre was the climbing wall, and he was quite confident in his ability to spot a bit of lava pouring from the top at the moment.

A bit to the left of the climbing wall was not just the canoe lake, but also the cabins and the dining pavilion. He could hear his stomach growl when he saw the latter and thought about how he could barely wait for dinner tonight. The food at Camp was always _excellent_.

At the far end of his sight, he could see the forest stretching out into the horizon, with Zeus' Fist towering over everything else. This sight remembered him that the next Capture the Flag game wasn't too far away.

Grover stopped his observations by starting to pull him in the direction of the Big House, a strangely excited expression on his face. What was this about?

They didn't talk too much on the way, as he was still trying to see as much as possible of his "home away from home" and Grover seemed to have other things on his mind than conversation. They also gained quite a lot of stares from all the demigods and satyrs on their way. Luckily he was used to it by now, having endured this for years at this point, but he knew that the stares had made him uncomfortable when he first came to camp. At least he wasn't the kid who killed the Minotaur this time around.

They made the way to the Big House in twenty minutes. They would have been faster, but Percy didn't want to miss the chance to talk to other campers without intimidating them with his entire 'Son of Poseidon' thing. This was something he hadn't had the chance to do the last time because he had still been too depressed and confused to approach other people. The only people he had a noteworthy amount of contact with then were Annabeth, Grover, Luke and Clarissa. Considering that one of these people betrayed not just their friendship but also their camp, and his early contact with Clarissa was dominated by violence and mutual dislike, you could say that he wasn't very successful in making friends.

To tell the truth, he was rather relieved not to see anyone he became close to in the future. He didn't want to be distracted before he talked with Chiron and Mr D. He would need all his wits for that.

He also might have stalled for more time to prepare for this confrontation. He very much doubted that he would be able to lie to the old centaur, which meant he couldn't just tell some made-up story like "I had a dream where I saw Kronos manipulating Ares to steal some badass lightning bolt from Luke, who also stole it first by the way".

It was just like he remembered it; Chiron sat in his magical wheelchair in front of Dionysus, a game of pinochle between them. He was no expert in this game, but you couldn't get around learning the basics of their camp director's favourite game if you were around as long as he was (don't ask why... _please_ ). Because of this, it was quite obvious for him that until recently two others had taken part in the current game. Probably two Satyrs.

He could also see, that Mr D was losing. Badly.

He was a bit sadden that Annabeth wasn't present, but he figured it made sense as he hadn't killed the Minotaur this time around. His fight with the aforementioned monster did a good job in making his presence known to everyone in CHB.

He knew that Annabeth had already heard the Great Prophecy at this point in time. He also knew that she was told by Chiron she would have a part to play in it too. It had been Grover who told him that every time a new camper came to CHB, she wondered if they were "the one", which was why she had been so interested in him after his victory over the Minotaur. She was convinced, that she finally found the person she had waited for all this time.

Deciding to make his presence known he called "Mr Brunner!".

His former teacher turned around when he heard his voice, a surprised expression on his face before it turned into a wide smile.

"Well, hello there Percy. And Grover too! I didn't expect you with us so soon! But maybe it's for the best, at least here you are safe. Now, get over here you two! You arrived at the right time, we just wanted to start a new round."

He offered them the two chairs between him and Mr D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh before he started to speak:

"Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

He would later deny it, but he had missed Mr D and his lacklustre way of doing things.

"Now now, there's no need to be rude, is there?" Chiron surprisingly chimed in. "They just arrived here, and by the look of it, they did so without any trouble too! Let them enjoy it as long as it lasts."

Mr D scoffed at that but didn't give a replay

He had no idea why Chiron bothered to reproach Mr D like that when he didn't do so the last time. Then he had been nothing but a confused boy who just lost his mother, which should have given Chiron much more reason to try to rebuke the god than now.

He really should stop trying to figure immortals out, it was a hopeless endeavour.

"Anyway," Chiron continued. "You may call me Chiron. Mr Brunner was just a pseudonym I took for my time at Yancy Academy."

"Oh, right. My Mom and Grover told me this already. Aren't you supposed to be a Centaur or something like that?"

"Indeed I am, but it is much more comfortable to sit in a chair while playing on such a cramped terrace rather than being constricted as I would be in my true form."

"That...makes sense I guess?"

"I think so too, yes."

Mr D had used the time he and Chiron had spent talking to collect all the cards that were needed for another round and was now eyeing me suspiciously.

"You _do_ know how to play pinochle, do you?" he asked me.

"Of course, sir."

For a moment he thought he could see Mr D's left eyebrow rising in surprise, though if it was because he knew the rules of the game or because know. But the next moment he looked just like he did before, bored and a bit annoyed that was, and he couldn't say if he just imagined it or not.

"Well, at least the boy is civilized," he mumbled under his breath, which was probably the nicest thing the god had ever said about him.

The next moment the cards flew out of his hands in the direction of Chiron, Grover and himself. He grimaced when he saw his cards. It seemed like Mr D gave him the worst hand possible.

"You mentioned that Grover and your mother told you about me. Would you mind telling me what else they explained to you?" Chiron asked, bringing my attention back to him.

So he told him and by extension Mr D and Grover, how he came home after the end of the school year and told his mother what happened with Mrs Dodds, who afterwards started to explain everything to him. He then told them how they then decided to call Grover, before they drove to camp. When he finished there was silence for a few moments, before Chiron decided to talk again:

"Well, that makes things much easier. And you believed everything she told you? No doubt or confusion?"

Now it started to become complicated. He wasn't good enough to lie to either Chiron or Mr D, the 'man' _was_ a god after all, but he still needed to convince them he was telling the truth. Luckily, he had a solution:

He would just tell them the truth. Not the fact that he travelled back in time, of course, but still the truth.

They ask him how long he knew that he was a demigod?

Well, he was told about it shortly after the end of school. If he told them this, nobody would be any wiser about the fact, that he knew about it for years. If he wanted to be _really_ vague he could just say "since the end of June of this year" and he would technically still be correct.

They ask him if he was confused after he was told about the gods?

Well, maybe he wasn't confused when his mother explained things to him, but the first time he truly was told about them? Yes, he had been confused as hell.

You got the idea.

Honestly, he was kinda proud of himself for coming up with this by himself!

"Well, I guess I was confused at the beginning. Of course I was, nobody would simply believe gods and monsters are real! But it explained a lot of stuff that happened to me, like this incident when I was younger and this big, one-eyed man tried to talk to me before my teachers chased him away. Honestly, I think the only reason I believed her, besides the fact that I knew she would never lie to me, was because this...Mist that manipulates peoples awareness explained this entire 'Mrs. Dodds incident'. You know that I was starting to think I was losing my mind, do you?"

He tried to sound accusing when he said the last part, which wasn't that hard because he remembered really feeling like that back then.

"I know, Percy, and I'm sorry. But I can guarantee you that it was for your own good. I don't know if either your mother or Grover already told you this, but the scent demigods have, the one that monsters can smell and use to find you, gets stronger once you find out what you are. We hoped to give you a bit more time before you would need to come here, to come to camp."

He stayed silent for a moment, thinking. Of course, he already knew why they did what they did, and he could understand their reasoning, but even after all this time, he wasn't sure if he _agreed_ with it. In all like-hood, his life might have been easier if he had found about all of this earlier. At the very least his first quest would have been much easier with a bit more training under his belt.

It was useless to think about this now, so he decided to change the topic:

"When Mrs Dodds attacked me at the museum you threw this pen to me, remember? The one that somehow transformed into a sword. How does that work?"

Chiron raised an eyebrow before replying: "Well, magic of course. I thought that considering the fact that gods and monsters are real, coming to that conclusion would be -what do you young folks call it these days?- a no brainer?"

He actual blushed at that. Maybe he should try to make a better first impression.

"That's not what I meant! I just want to know why it could kill Mrs Dodds in the first place. I mean, only celestial bronze can kill monsters, right? But you used this sword all the time in school, I recognized it. Wouldn't the Mist hide it and make mortals see something else?"

"Ah, I see. Well, _that_ question makes a bit more sense. Now, you are not completely wrong with that assumption. The Mist does indeed hide the supernatural from mortal eyes, and it did so even in class when I showed off Riptide, which is the swords name by the way. I guess your mother didn't tell you that, if she even knows it herself, but celestial bronze emits a faint golden glow. If you think back about my lessons, can you remember seeing the sword glow? Because I don't think so. The Mist hid it from you, as well as the rest of the class. And the reason as of why all these mortal children could see the sword in the first place; there was just no reason to hide it. I announced in advance, that I would bring _real weapons_ with me for demonstration, didn't I? So when I used Riptide in front of students they expected to see a real sword, which isn't something supernatural and as such doesn't need to be hidden from mortal eyes. It's more than enough to hide the faint glow."

I nodded. Sure, he could have come to the same conclusion if he ever thought about it, but he never did. Why should he, when he had so much more important stuff going on? It was still interesting, though.

"And what if you had accidentality hit someone with it? Celestial bronze can't hurt mortal, can't it?"

"Well, in that case, the Mist would have most likely intervened. Even if not, I still could manipulate it myself and everything would be fine."

Percy blinked. Did Chiron just mention Mist manipulation in front of him? The last time, he didn't know this was a thing until he saw Thalia do it in front of him when they were going to rescue Nico and Bianca, and then afterwards he hadn't much time to learn it himself because so much else was happening all the time. Maybe he could change that?

"Manipulate it yourself? That is possible?"

Chiron nodded, seemingly pleased for some reason. "Indeed it is. Many demigods, and quite a few monsters for that matter, can learn to manipulate the Mist. It's a dangerous ability, as a strong Mist can confuse the mind of even a demigod. Maybe I can show you how, in due time, after you had some time to settle in, but not now. I should warn you though, it isn't an easy ability to learn. Most demigods, besides the children of Hecate, are not able to do more with it than some easy tricks."

_Take that, Pinecone Face!_

Thalia and he were close friends, no matter how much they fought from time to time, but he never forgot the one time they were at Westover Hall and Thalia stepped in front of them and did her little mind trick by manipulating the Mist. It didn't even matter that it didn't work on Dr Thorn. This was the point where he really started to feel like he wasn't needed on the quest and that Thalia 'replaced' him.

They got over it, sure. But it still stung.

"Well, that was an interesting conversation and all," Mr D said smugly, speaking for the first time in a while. "But there are other, more important things that need to be mentioned too. One of which is the fact, that I won this round."

"Not quite, Mr D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tailed the points, and said. "The game goes to me."

Mr D just sighed, obviously used to being beaten by the old centaur. He got up, and Grover followed suit.

"I'm tired," he said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk. It seems like you did an alright job this time, so maybe you can actually fulfil your little dream and become a searcher."

Then he turned to Percy, seemingly evaluating him.

"I guess you could have done worse. At least you have manners. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Mr Johnson."

Having said everything he wanted to say, Mr D swept into the farmhouse. Grover followed him, looking even more excited than before, and offered nothing more than a little wave before he too vanished into the farmhouse.

Percy couldn't do much more than stop his mouth from falling open.

Grover was already becoming a searcher? Just like that? Did that mean he wouldn't accompany him on the quest to retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt? Much more important, didn't that mean that he would be captured by Polyphemus much earlier? That would be terrible! He might be able to act as if he were a female Cyclops again, but this wasn't a given. Maybe he would never get the chance this time!

He might very well die, how didn't he thought about this? He should have known this could happen and did something to prevent it. But what could he do now? He was just-

"Ah, there is no need to be worried about Grover. Mr D might act a bit grumpy and uncaring, but he is still the camp director."

It was good that Chiron pulled him out of his thoughts before he had the chance to have a full-blown panic attack. Now was not the time for that, no matter how hard it was not to think about it. Fortunately, Chiron misinterpreted his feelings as simple worry for his friend, instead of the certainly of doom he was feeling.

"I think it's time to find you a place to sleep. Cabin eleven will do just fine for that, all campers who don't know who their godly parent is are sleeping there, and-"

"But I know who my godly parent is," he interrupted weakly, still trying to get his mind off the fact that he might be responsible for his best friend's death.

Chiron paused. "You do?" he asked.

Percy blinked.

_Shit._

He hadn't planned to tell that anyone quite yet, seeing no real advantage in doing so, but it was too late now. He knew that Chiron was already suspecting him to be the son of one of the Big Three, which was the reason he bothered to come to Yancy in the first place, so this would only confirm what he was already speculating.

"Poseidon," he answered. "My father is Poseidon."

* * *

Chiron's face afterwards made it pretty clear, that the news wasn't that surprising for him. He was, in fact, convinced, that Chiron had already guessed that he was a son of Poseidon, if only because he looked just like his father.

Even with that revelation, it was decided, that he would still need to live in cabin eleven until his father would claim him.

They didn't stay much longer on that terrace and Chiron started to give him the same tour as the last time. Of course, he had gotten out of that wheelchair first.

He was slightly annoyed that most campers were older, and bigger, than him. He had gotten used to his younger body again, he had more than enough time to do so after all, but it was still slightly annoying being one of the youngest campers again.

He also saw a good amount of Satyrs, all of them bigger and older looking than Grover. They were trotting around in the orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts he himself had worn in the future, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters.

He still got a lot of stares, but at least they were more curious than awed. Now he was only the new one, instead of the guy who killed the Minotaur without a weapon.

He couldn't say he disliked this anonymity.

As they walked through the strawberry fields, and shortly afterwards past the woods, he felt how all the tension he didn't even know he was feeling till then was leaving his body. The time between his last visit and now was not much more than the other times he went home between summers, but it felt much longer.

_Maybe it was the atmosphere_ , he mused. Without a war luring on the horizon, the camp seemed to be much more welcome than before.

It was wonderful.

Chiron pointed at the mess hall with all it's white Grecian columns, standing on a hill and overlooking the sea. He remembered how he was confused the first time Chiron had shown it to him, and how he had asked 'what do you do when it rains?'.

_What a silly question,_ he laughed inside his mind.

Finally, they arrived at the cabins. They were just as he remembered them; all twelve of them were nestled in the woods by the lake and arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. They were still, without a doubt, the most bizarre collection of buildings he had ever seen.

But Percy had only eyes for one of them: cabin three. It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, fortunately, but long and solid. The outer walls were of rough grey stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor.

He pulled himself together and resisted the urge to enter the cabin, but barely so.

Even from the distance, he caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. He hadn't noticed until now _how much_ he missed his bunk bed with-

"Ah, cabin three." Chiron interrupted my thoughts. "Your father's cabin, as you surely realized yourself already. I fear it will need to stay empty for now, but maybe in due time, you will occupy it. Now come along, Percy."

The first thing he noticed after he pulled himself away from _his_ cabin was the loud rock music blaring from the bright red cabin they walked past.

_The Ares cabin,_ he thought.

He could see a bunch of kids, all of them as mean-looking as their father, arguing and arm wrestling with each other. One of them he recognized immediately: Clarisse. She was as big and tough looking as he remembered, and just as loud.

He wondered if she would try to give him her form of an "initiation ceremony" again.

.


	4. The Lightning Thief III

**A Demigod out of time**

**The Lightning Thief**

**III**

"Ah, Luke!" Chiron suddenly called out when they got close to cabin eleven. "Would you be so nice and take over this new camper? He will join your cabin until he is claimed."

Percy, who was still glancing at the Ares cabin till that moment and thus hadn't noticed the aforementioned person yet, just barely stopped his head from jerking around immediately and turned around at a normal pace instead.

He had expected to feel anger, resentment, or even betrayal the next time he would meet Luke again, but instead, he felt actually _saddened_ and _nostalgic_ by his appearance. Only now that he saw him face to face again could he recognize how weak and ill he had been looking during their last few encounters. Compared to the version of him he fought on Olympus, the one possessed by the Titan King, this Luke looked healthy and strong!

"Sure thing, Chiron," Luke answered once they were close enough to speak in a normal volume.

Luke's smile didn't waver in the slightest, and even knowing what his true feelings about another undetermined demigod -another demigod ' _abandoned_ ' by his godly parent- must be didn't allow him to see any hidden thoughts or emotions on his face.

"Alright then. I will introduce him to the rest of the cabin."

Chiron nodded before turning to him again. "Percy, this is Luke Castellan, counsellor of cabin eleven. He is one of our most experienced campers, so he should be able to answer whatever question comes into your mind."

Percy gave the centaur a small smile while suppressing the apprehension at the thought of being alone with Luke, even for only a fairly short amount of time. He knew that Luke wouldn't do anything to him, not before his father claimed him at least, but standing in front of the boy uncomfortably remembered him that his twelve years old body was much more inferior compared to the nineteen years old's physiques.

"Well," Luke spoke up with a friendly smile once Chiron galloped away. "You already know who I am, so introducing myself is kinda useless. Still, welcome to cabin eleven, the probably best cabin in the whole camp. Nobody knows how to have fun as well as we do, so just tell someone when you feel down and I guarantee that we will find a way to cheer you up."

He swallowed once before giving him a nervous smile. "I'm Percy. Do you have any idea how long I need to wait until I get determined?"

Luke's smile fell just for a single second before returning in place, becoming a bit apologetic. "That varies. Sometimes you need to wait a few days, sometimes a few weeks,... sometimes you don't get determined at all."

Percy had expected an answer like that, but he still didn't know what to say. Luckily Luke's good mood returned shortly after.

"Anyway, let's introduce you to your future roommates, shall we?"

Cabin eleven was just as packed with people as he remembered. Both boys and girls were _everywhere_ and there were nowhere enough bunk beds for all of them. This was a fact proven by all the sleeping bags that were spread all over the floor, taking most of the free space in the process.

And everyone stared at them, or, to be more precise, at _him_.

Fortunately, he had taken great care not to trip while stepping in this time, so he didn't make a fool of himself and could actually try to give a good first impression. After all, he had gone through enough to realize if someone was sizing him up, which was just the thing everyone was doing right now.

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven," Luke announced. "And before anyone asks; he is undetermined."

Everybody groaned, just as the last time.

"Now, now, campers. No need to react like that, it's kinda unfair to Percy here," Luke said to the room before turning back to him. "Come on, you can have that spot on the floor right over there."

He gave a small wave and a smile to the room before walking over to the spot Luke had pointed at and laid down the little luggage he had taken with him from home. They were mostly clothes, so it wouldn't even matter if someone stole his stuff. As soon as they realized there was nothing of worth in it they would probably just give it back. The children of Hermes, as well as the people just living with them, might enjoy a good joke and weren't above stealing stuff from others, but barely anyone was cruel enough to steal some kid's clothes. Especially if the aforementioned kid didn't own much more than them in the first place.

He looked up when a sleeping bag was put next to his luggage, only to see the well-known but much younger face of Connor Stoll.

"Welcome in your new home!" the boy said with a big grin. "My name is Connor, and you can come to me or my brother Travis if you have any questions! Here is a sleeping bag for you, seeing as you don't have one yet, but don't ask where I got it from. It's a trade secret if you know what I mean."

He had thought he felt nostalgic when he saw Luke, but seeing Connor was much more intense. They might not have been _close_ friends, but they were friends nonetheless. He was also different in the aspect that he never betrayed either him or the camp, like Luke did, thus not giving him any reason to feel conflicted about him as he did for his aforementioned half brother.

There was also the little fact that he didn't even know if he had been still alive at the time he had battled Kronos.

He thought he did an alright job in keeping his emotions from showing on his face, but he was still glad that Luke stood behind him and thus wasn't able to look at his expression. Better safe than sorry, after all.

He answered with a smile of his own. "Thank you. Though I'm unsure whether I should accept it or not. You look like you're the kind of person that would enjoy pranking the new kid." He hoped that his voice made it clear enough that he wasn't accusing him or anything like that, but was speaking in good humour.

"Oh? What gave you that _ridiculous_ idea?"

"Well, I went through more than enough schools to recognize all the different types of people," he said while trying to sound casual. "And you seem to be the class clown everyone likes to watch creating chaos as long as they themselves aren't involved in it."

He could see some of his housemates nodding in understanding when he said the part about going through several schools. It wasn't surprising, really, considering most half-bloods were kicked out of school at least once.

Connor's smile somehow became even bigger. "Well, would you look at that? He is actually not too dumb! Can't be a son of Hermes then." He combined this comment with a mock bow before him, and Percy could see the satisfaction in his eyes when there were some snickers all through the room.

 _So he still enjoys making people laugh,_ he thought amused. _It's good that some things never change._

"Anyway," Luke's voice cut through the room. "I think we should get your measures and then went to the Hephaestus cabin. Maybe we can make you an own set of armour before the Capture the Flag next Friday."

He didn't give him any chance to argue with that as he gently proceeded by pulling him along when he made his way out of the cabin. Well, maybe pulling him along wasn't quite right, considering that he went along with it after only a short push in the direction of the door.

"Sorry that I pulled you out of there so abruptly," Luke said once they left the cabin. "But they were getting excited and once that happens there is no way stopping them. We wouldn't have been able to leave for the foreseeable future and there are still a few things we need to do before you can fit right in."

"I'm sorry?"

Luke laughed. "No, no, no need to be sorry. They only got excited because they like you. You didn't get overwhelmed, proved to be smart, and got along with one of our more popular roommates. You could say you passed their test. You're officially part of the Hermes cabin now, congratulations!"

"So it went pretty well, huh?" he murmured. _Definitively better than the last time at least._

"You could say so, yes," Luke agreed.

Percy smiled but didn't say anything else. Being surrounded by all the people in the cabin might have calmed him down a bit, and the conversation with Connor had distracted him for a short while, but now that he was once again alone with Luke his uneasiness came back with vengeance.

It was a very unlikely person that rescued him from this situation.

"Well! A newbie!"

He knew who was coming even before he turned around, having instantly recognized the voice. And indeed, there was Clarisse, followed by three boys and two girls, walking over to them with confident steps.

"Clarisse," Luke greeted her, and Percy could swear he heard amusement in his voice. He hadn't any time to think more about that though, because Clarisse continued.

"Luke," she said, sounding to his surprise more civil than he had ever heard her speak before. "Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson," Luke said, pointing first at him and then at Clarisse. "Meet Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares."

"Nice meeting you, I'm sure," he said, his voice sounding simultaneity amused and sarcastic.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You got a problem with me, runt?"

"We have just met, didn't we? You had no opportunity yet to make me dislike you, but if it reassures you, you're doing a fine job at it right now," he said with a big grin. He wouldn't confess that to anyone, but he actually missed his little arguments with the daughter of Ares.

She spat at his feet. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

He ignored the nickname, longs since being used to it. "Oh, I would like to see it!"

Her face hardened but she didn't attack him, seriously surprising him. "Well, come on then. I'll show you."

"Fantastic!" he agreed jovial.

While it was amusing to walk in the direction of the bathroom side by side with Clarisse and her siblings instead of being dragged that way, it also was very awkward. He wondered what they thought about the situation, but considering their near-feral grins it was probably something along the lines of 'the unknowing prey walks into the trap all by his own'.

_If only they knew._

He could feel Luke's eyes on the back of his head and was wondering if he should be surprised he hadn't tried to interfere, like Annabeth had done the last time around, or not. In his defence though, it might just be that Luke thought he had a plan, which was the case, because of how he acted. Especially because this behaviour was different from the one he had displayed earlier.

They continued to walk in peacefully in silence until they reached the cinder-block building that housed the bathroom. One moment he was just walking, and the next moment someone grasped him by the neck and pulled him into the girl's bathroom. He only gave some token resistance, the toilets actually being exactly the spot he wanted them to go.

He didn't plan to wait until the very last moment like the last time though, so he reached out with his senses until he could feel the water in the pipes and willed it to do as he commanded. The feeling he got in reaction to that was a bit sluggish, not as fast and easy as it was supposed to be. When controlling water usually felt as if he used a limb he hadn't known exist before, just waiting for him to flex its muscles, now it felt as if the limb has gone partly numb.

He guessed that was the case because, in addition of being back in his younger self's body, he hadn't used his powers in nearly a year out of fear of being watched or sensed by some god or monster. Still, as unusually difficult as it felt right now, it was still easier than it had been originally this time around. After all, back then he hadn't had any control _at all_!

Finally, he felt the well-known tug in the pit of my stomach, and he knew he had won.

"I hope you like toilet water, becau-" Clarisse started, only to be interrupted by water blasting out of the toilets and blasting right into her open mouth, sending her flying. Her friends were just as unfortunate, with all of them being hit by water streams themselves. Every time one of them tried to stand up another blast of water would hit them, sending them back to the ground.

This went for barely two minutes, and when it stopped all six of them were lying on the ground, coughing and heavily breathing while trying to get the taste of toilet water out of their mouths.

Percy, while more exhausted than he had any right to be after using only such a small trick, was smiling. It was good that Luke had stayed out of the bathroom, it would have been hard to convince him that he had no idea how he managed what he did had he watched them.

"Well, I liked it. Let's repeat this on a later date, shall we?"

Clarisse hadn't even the energy to glare at him.

* * *

It was nearly dinnertime when he finally managed to find Grover.

He had needed a few minutes, but he had convinced him to come with him to the lake to rest and catch up with each other. He had chosen this specific spot because it was the same place the sat together the last time he had arrived at camp and thus thought it fitting to come here again.

"So," he said as soon as they sat down. "What's this about you becoming a searcher?

Grover was so happy, he basically _glowed_. "I finally got my searcher's license!" he exclaimed, but then blinked in surprise. "Wait, you don't even know what that is, do you?" He didn't give him any chance to answer before he continued. "For completing a keeper's assignment, that means for bringing a demigod, which in this case are you, to camp alive, a satyr can make a request for a searcher's license. If the Council of Cloven Elders approves it the satyr is allowed to go on a journey to find the god Pan!"

"Pan is the god of nature, isn't he?" he asked when it became apparent that Grover was lost in thoughts.

"He is the God of the Wild! And more!" Grover exclaimed, stars in his eyes. "And I will be the one to find him! If everything goes well I can leave before the week is over."

He suppressed a grimace. He knew he would do that, and he definitively deserved it to be the one who found Pan, but he _really_ didn't want him to start his search _right now_. Especially because he couldn't be sure if he would be able to even get the chance to save Grover from Polyphemus. The worst thing was that he didn't know how he could possibly stop him from going! They weren't close enough friends, due to fault of his own, for him to be able to convince him of staying, not when he wanted to hinder him from fulfilling his lifelong dream. There was literally nothing he could say that would make him stay.

But maybe... if he couldn't make him stay, he could at least do everything in his power to make sure that he would stay alive?

"How many other searchers are there?" he asked while still formulating how to exactly execute his plan.

Grover furrowed his brows. "Currently? I think there were around a hundred new ones over the last twenty years. Altogether? There were countless. I couldn't even make a reliable guess, as we sent searchers out into the world for millennia now!"

"...and how many have returned?" he asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer.

Grover looked visibly uncomfortable when he spoke up next. "None. In all this time not one searcher returned home." There was a short silence, only interrupted by the sound of splashing water coming from some Naiads in the lake, before Grover started speaking with renewed fervour. "But I will return! I know I will. I can't fail, not now when I finally managed to get my license."

"You will," he agreed softly, knowing with all his heart that it was the truth.

Something in his voice must have given him away -or maybe Grover just felt something though his empathy abilities- because his friend gave him a long, searching look before turning his head away. He didn't do this fast enough though, and so he could see that his eyes had become a bit teary.

"How do searchers search for Pan anyway?" he asked, bringing the conversation back on track.

"We visit places where nature, the wild, is still strong, hoping to find the place Pan used to retreat from the world. The stronger the nature enhancing magic in the area, the more likely it is that Pan is close."

 _Which was exactly the reason why Polyphemus was able to catch so many satyrs, with the Golden Fleece's magic resembling Pan's power_ , he thought.

"But if it's so easy, why didn't anyone found him yet?"

Grover hesitated. "There are probably dangers, and monster are always a threat..."

"But still! There must be a better way!"

"Okay then, mister genius, how would you proceed to find Pan, hm?"

Percy suppressed a grin. This conversation went just as he hoped it would.

"Well," he said while trying to act as if he was thinking hard about his answer. "If everyone else failed while searching the places where the wild is the strongest I would probably do the exact opposite."

"What, visiting places without nature at all, where you can't even feel the wild?" Grover asked doubtfully.

He grinned. "Exactly." When Grover still looked sceptical he expanded on it. "I mean, if Pan went into hiding and wants to stay that way, especially for as long as he did so far, he would obviously try to hide his presence, wouldn't he? Otherwise, he would be found immediately! And no one would think about going to places where they can't even feel the slightest bit of nature while searching for the 'God of the Wild', would they?" He shrugged. "Seems like an obvious hiding place to me."

Grover stared at him. At first, his look was still doubtful, but with every second a bit more of the doubt left his eyes and finally all there was left was amazement.

"I-I never even thought about that! I don't think anyone else did either!" he exclaimed before jumping to his feet. "I need to check the records, to see what plans other searcher had before they took off on their journey. If truly no one ever thought about that... this might be the breakthrough we have been waiting for! Thank you so much, Percy, I will not forget about this!" And then he ran off.

"W-Wait, Grover? Don't run-" he spluttered, but he was already gone.

He sighed. He knew there was no way of catching up to a satyr when he was sprinting like that, so he just let himself fall on his back.

All he could do now was hope that Grover would heed his 'advice' and would be fine.

* * *

Not long after he returned to 'his' cabin after his conversation with Grover he could hear a horn blew in the distance, shortly followed by Luke's voice calling "Eleven, fall in!" through the building.

The whole cabin then filled into the commons yard and lined up, himself being the very last as he was the newest camper of the Hermes cabin. It was on their way to the mess hall pavilion, when the campers from the other cabins joined them, that he saw Annabeth for the first time.

He was relieved that their first 'meeting' happened in such a way, where only he could see her but she didn't saw him and without the need to talk to each other, because he didn't think he would be able to act normal around her right now.

Annabeth was his best friend (of course Grover was too, but that was...different), and he had over the last year, if not even earlier, conclude that he might actually like her as more than just a good friend. He also liked to think that there was a realistic chance of her _liking_ _him_ too. _Finally_ seeing her again took some pressure from his chest that he didn't even know existed!

…but it also remembered him of something; this wasn't the Annabeth he remembered. He had known that about all the other people too, of course, but it was only now when he saw her that he really _realized_ it. Maybe it was because the few people he had interacted most with so far were rather similar to their future personalities:

Grover was Grover, easy as that. Maybe a little less self-confident, but still very much the same satyr he remembered.

Luke was still Luke. He acted just as nice he did the first time they met, but Percy knew he was already under Kronos control. And while Percy still hoped he could save him from his fate, if that was even possible, he knew that right now he was far beyond his reach.

Even Connor was still the same fun-loving and cheerful boy he knew, no matter how much younger he was!

But Annabeth? This younger version of him wouldn't even like him for a while because of who his father was. She wouldn't come around to accept him until after the went through several life-or-death situations together on their first quest, and Percy couldn't guarantee that she would come to like him this time around as well. After all, he might look that way but he was not the same person as when he was twelve. What if this younger version of his _best friend_ , the one who didn't overcome her hubris yet and who actually looked forward to going on a quest instead of being apprehensive of the idea, found him lacking? What if-

A hand pressed him down to sit on the bench. "I know it can be a bit much the first time you see it, but if you don't pay attention you will end without a place to sit," Luke said. "And believe me, standing while you eat and watch everyone else sit on benches is not fun."

He hadn't the energy to do more than to nod.

It had happened a few time over the last year that he got lost on one memory line and ended having a panic attack because his thoughts ran rampage inside his head. He started to think about what _could_ go wrong and didn't manage to ignore these thoughts until it became too much.

With time he had managed to become somewhat adept at completely stopping these things by just not thinking too much about possible bad scenarios _at all_. This made planning for future events understandable hard, but he managed it just fine as long as he had enough time to think only in small steps.

It was good that Luke had pulled him out of it, even if just unknowingly because it would have been a pain to explain why he had a _full-blown panic attack_ in front of everyone.

Everybody fell silent when Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion. He raised his glass and shouted, "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses as well and repeated Chiron's words.

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food and the meal began. It wasn't too long before the first people started to get up and move over to the fire in the centre of the pavilion to drop portions of their meal into the fire.

"Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell," Luke explained unnecessarily.

He approached the fire before he did, bowing his head, and tossed a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."

He went next, unsure of what to say.

Then it came to him: he didn't need to ask his dad to tell him who he was like he did the last time, as he already knew the answer to that. But instead, he could use this chance to ask him to protect his friend.

 _Please, Poseidon,_ he thought, _Dad, help Grover on his quest to find Pan. Maybe send him some help, or just protect him when he is close to the sea, just help him._

He scraped a bit slice of brisket into the flames.

It smelled nothing like burning food, but of the sea. He smelled the salt and thought he could hear waves crashing against the coast and feel a slight breeze on his face. Combined with the fact that he was back at Camp Half-blood, he truly felt _home_.

He hadn't noticed how everybody in the pavilion had turned silent, so he was pretty surprised when he turned around and saw everyone looking at him with big eyes. _No,_ he thought, _not at me, above me._

He only needed one glance above his head to see what everyone was looking at.

A hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tripped spear: a trident. The symbol of his father, the proof that he was the Son of Poseidon.

He didn't understand why this was happening. The last time his father hadn't claimed him until after the Capture the Flag next Friday, until after he had proved himself in front of everyone by first beating the Ares campers and then healing his wounds in the creek after the hellhound attack. He hadn't proven himself yet, he hadn't even killed the Minotaur, so why was he claimed?

Chiron's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"It is determined," he announced. "This is the symbol of Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot that I divided this chapter, so this is actually just the second half of the third chapter. This means that the changes will only start to have an effect in the next chapter, not this one! Sorry about that.  
> On the other hand, at least we've got the conversation between Percy and Grover over with. Grover's plot is the one that differs the earliest from the books, but I'm sure you've noticed that already. Oh, and Poseidon claimed Percy! Yeah!  
> I don't know if it's just my headcanon or if it's the official explanation, but I think Poseidon originally waited until Percy proved himself so that others would see him as more than just his son, but here he already knows that he's his father and so he decided to do it earlier.  
> Well then, I hope you had fun with this chapter!


	5. The Lightning Thief IV

**A Demigod out of time**

**The Lightning Thief**

**IV**

He was moved to cabin three just after dinner -which, by the way, was the most uncomfortable meal he ever had at camp- and he couldn't decide whether he was happy to be here again or not.

On one side he was forced to leave the Hermes cabin even earlier than last time, not even sleeping there a single night, and thus stealing his only chance of being one of them without the entire 'Son of Poseidon' thing hanging over his head. He had hoped to befriend some of his roommates before his inevitable claiming, hoping that that would enough to stop them from ignoring him and going out of his way afterwards.

Just like the last time around.

Sadly this chance was now taken from him, and considering he had no idea how much time he had left before he needed to left for the quest under this new conditions he couldn't be sure if he would be able to befriend anyone else before that.

On the other side, he was finally back in _his_ cabin, which was the place he felt closest to the sea without actually being inside of it. Besides, even if the camp's treatment still stung, he was used to it. After all, he had already experienced it before, and he knew it would get better with time.

He only needed to be patient. Not his strongest trait, but he would manage.

The next two days he spent in a similar fashion to what he did the last time; Luke trained him one-on-one in sword fighting, where it was once again demonstrated that his body wasn't just much weaker than his opponent's but that he also lacked a lot of muscle memories that are essential for a swordsman, while Chiron taught him Greek in the mornings.

The last time it had been Annabeth who did that, but he wasn't surprised that that wasn't the case anymore as they haven't even _talked_ with each other yet.

Then he had the same dream he had had once before, about running along the beach and in a storm and watching two men, which he now knew were his father and Zeus, fighting each other. Even knowing that this was just a dream he still tried to stop them, yelling at them to calm down, as if he could actually accomplish something this way.

And once again he woke up once the ground shook while Kronos' laughter could be heard before he slipped and fell into darkness.

Afterwards, he decided enough was enough and went to Chiron to tell him about this dream, hoping to get the quest started this way if only to be done with it. And who knows? Maybe starting the quest earlier would get him some advantage?

“I see,” Chiron murmured after he finished telling him about the dream. “I had hoped you would have more time to train, more time to become stronger, but it seems we have no other choice.”

“Um, sir, what exactly does that dream mean? You seem to know.”

The old centaur looked at him for a long time with sad eyes before he spoke up again. “You'll need to go on a quest, Percy. A very dangerous one too, if I'm not wrong, which I'm rarely. I already suspected it, but your dream just now proved it.”

“And... and what will this quest be about?” he asked, feigning nervousness to the best of his abilities.

Chiron sighed. “Your father, Poseidon, and his brother Zeus are fighting. It's their worst quarrel in centuries, and it's all about a valuable object that was stolen: Zeus' Master Bolt.”

“Zeus' Master Bolt? And it's missing?”

Chiron nodded. “His symbol of power. The probably most powerful weapon in existence, made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans. A weapon that makes mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers.”

He had heard all that before, but it didn't stop his anxiety from rising. If such a powerful weapon fell into Kronos' hands the quarrel between the gods would be their smallest worry.

“It was stolen during the last winter solstice, at the last council of the gods. And, probably because Zeus and Poseidon had another argument during the council, Zeus immediately blamed his brother when he realized his bolt was missing. Now, as gods cannot steal another god's symbol of power by themselves they need mortals to do their bidding. All Zeus needed to do, from his perspective, was to find the demigod that your father sent to steal his weapon to have proof. And then”-Chiron pointed at him" -your father claimed you as his son and Zeus thought he found his culprit. After all, who else could have helped Poseidon to usurp his symbol of power than his own son?”

“But I didn't do it! I didn't even know that I am a demigod back then!” he exclaimed, and he didn't even need to try to act offended. He remembered how upset he had been when Chiron told him this the first time around, that he was blamed for something he couldn't have done in the first place.

“Which is something you can't prove,” Chiron said. “As far as Zeus is concerned, you being not only Poseidon's son but also been present in New York over the winter holidays, giving you a chance to sneak into Olympus and steal his Master Bolt, is more than enough reason to suspect you and even judge you guilty.”

He looked at him as if he expected another outburst, but he held himself back. No matter how unfair he still thought this was, getting angry wouldn't help him.

“As it is,” the centaur continued. “Zeus has demanded that Poseidon returns the bolt by the time of the summer solstice, which is in twelve days from now. Poseidon, however, wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. Some of the other gods tried to calm them down and make them see sense, but your arrival has inflamed Zeus' temper once again. The only thing that can stop a war between the gods is the return of the Master Bolt before the solstice, and as you're currently the main culprit the best way of proving your innocence is if you're the one who returns it.”

Yeah, he kinda knew that already.

“Then where is this stupid thing?” he asked, ignoring the thunder in the background.

“I have some ideas, but little proof,” Chiron admitted. “But what I think doesn't matter, you will find your answers elsewhere. It's time you consult with the Oracle. Go upstairs, Percy, to the attic. When you come back, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more.”

He gave the man a humourless smile. _What encouraging words!_

Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor. He pulled the cord, the door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place. He ignored first the warm and smelly air, and shortly after when he climbed up the ladder he ignored all the junk lying around as well. He had seen all this stuff before and, frankly, had more important things to do right now.

Making his way over to the poor girl that ended as the last Oracle, sitting on a wooden tripod stool by the window, he couldn't help but think about May Castellan and her fate, suffering because of the same curse the mummy before him did. He also thought about Rachel, who would become the next host of the Oracle's spirit, and how it would still be years until he saw her again. _If they even meet at all, that is,_ some voice in the back of his head reminded him.

He shook his head to drive these dark thoughts away. He had other worries at the moment, for example _the other voice_ he could hear inside his mind.

_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo,_

_slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask._

He thought that the entire thing was still just as creepy as the first time he had been here, or all the other times he was forced to interact with the Oracle. Honestly, why was it necessary for the thing to speak inside his mind? Wouldn't a simple sign stating “ _Ask your question out loud to receive an unnecessary cryptically answer in return_ ” do the trick?

Instead of voicing his thoughts, he asked: “How do I retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt?”

The mist, already pouring out of the mummy since he entered, swirled more thickly, collecting itself right in front of him. The last time he had been in this situation he had seen Smelly Gabe and his buddies. This time around it was different though, and, to his surprise, four different faces he could recognize almost instantly appeared in front of him: Zoe Nightshade, Bianca and Nico di Angelo, and Annabeth. And not just any Annabeth, but the older one he remembered from _before_.

He didn't need to think too long why these faces appeared in front of him now; the last time the Oracle had shown him Gabe and his buddies because there had been no one he had wanted to see any less than them, now it showed him four people he had failed in some way or another.

Then, one after another, they began to speak:

“ _You shall meet the ruler of the Underworld, and make a trade,_

_You shall find what was stolen, but a price must be paid,_

_You shall make a mistake you will bitterly regret,_

_And, in the end, you shall gain a great asset.”_

His eyes widened in shock. He had suspected the prophecy might differ from the original he remembered, but this was, essentially, an entirely new one! Was his future knowledge even still helpful? _Well, of course it is!_ he chided himself, trying to get a clear mind.

He still knew who the real thief was, that hadn't changed. Ares finding Luke shouldn't have changed either, so the god was still in possession of both Zeus' Master Bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness. All in all, the basics were still the same. He was still in control.

Now, what could the prophecy possibly mean?

The first line was pretty straightforward; he would meet Hades and make a deal with him. Maybe something including the Master Bolt? If Ares still gave him the backpack with the bolt inside it this might be a possibility. Besides, he had nothing else of interest for the god, so there was nothing else he could trade with.

The second line was rather easy to interpret as well, but much less nice. He really wasn't looking forward to the _'a price must be paid'_ part'.

The third line was the worst. He _definitively_ didn't want to make a mistake he would bitterly regret. This phrase was also so broadly formulated that he had no idea what kind of mistake he would make, making it impossible to even try to prevent it.

At least the last line was promising. He would take whatever boon he could get, and gaining a great asset sounded pretty nice.

“Well?” Chiron asked me once I slumped into a chair opposite of him.

I sighed before I repeated the prophecy for him.

He didn't react for what felt like an entirety, but when he did his voice was gentle. “You should know this, Percy: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass.”

That was the exact same thing he had told him once before, and it wasn't as if he didn't know that himself anyway. His entire presence in this time was proof to it! But still, something like ' _You shall make a mistake you will bitterly regret_ ' can only be interpreted in so many ways.

“Okay,” I said, anxious to change topics. “How do I find Hades? And when do I leave?”

Chiron grimaced. “I don't like the thought of you searching out the Lord of the Dead. I knew there was a big chance of it happening, with him being probably the true thief, but-”

“Where was it said that Hades is the true thief?” he asked, only to blush slightly when Chiron looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I mean,” he continued to explain himself. “The Oracle just said I would meet him. And probably make a trade with him. It wasn't stated that he is the thief.”

He couldn't help himself, it would feel wrong _not_ to say these things when he, in fact, knew that Hades wasn't just innocent but had been robbed himself.

“Percy,” Chiron said with a voice he instantly recognized as his teacher's voice. “Hades is the most likely culprit. After all, who would profit more from all the deaths a war between his brothers would result in than him? He has a grudge against his brothers for a long time now, so this being his revenge for all the injustice he received, from his perspective, isn't unlikely.”

“I guess,” he agreed halfheartedly. It wasn't as if he could convince Chiron, or anyone else for that matter, without telling them how he knew what he knew.

“Be it as it may, you will need to travel to the Underworld anyway. That much at least becomes clear from the prophecy. And about your questions: the entrance to the Underworld is located in Los Angeles. We will be able to help you at the start of your journey by bringing you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan, but the rest of it you and your companions will need to do on yourselves. And about the when, well, I would say you leave as soon as you have found two people to accompany you. Maybe add an extra hour to pack your stuff though."

He wasn't quite sure where to start looking for people who might accompany him. Grover had left yesterday -thankfully he was completely sold on the idea to look into places where you couldn't feel even a bit of the wild, making it nearly impossible for him to be captured by Polyphemus again, soothing his worries- and thus it was impossible for him to ask his friend.

He stubbornly ignored the sting in his chest at the thought of going on a quest without Grover.

He knew that he wanted to ask Annabeth, but he would wait with that until after he found his final companion. He told himself that it was just logical to do so because this way he could solve the harder problem, which was finding a third party member, first, as Annabeth was guaranteed to agree while everyone else was not.

He nearly believed himself.

The only person he had relatively much contact with in the short period he had been at camp was Luke, and he would _definitively not_ take him with him. There might be no line about being betrayed by a friend in this prophecy, if Luke could even be called his friend in the first place, but he was not about to tempt Fate.

_But maybe..._

He shrugged. This idea wasn't foolproof, and he had no idea if the boy would even agree, but it was worth a shot. With this thought in mind, he made his way over to the forge.

He could hear the hammering on metal before he could even see the forge, and once it came into his sight it became obvious why: most, if not all of cabin nine was currently there, working on some project of their own.

One thing he always appreciated about the children of Hephaestus that they didn't make a big deal out of him. They still ignored him like the others, of course, but they didn't go out of their way to avoid him. At least not as long as they had work to do.

“Hey, Beckendorf!” he called out once he was within earshot.

A few people turned around to see who he was but looked away as soon as they realized that it was _him_. He ignored them, focusing on Beckendorf.

The last time he had seen him (the few glimpses he got in this timeline didn't count) was on board of the _Princess Andromeda_ shortly before it blew up with Beckendorf still on it. It had been fortunate that the first time he had come to the forge, which had been yesterday when Luke showed him around, he had taken over the conversation with Beckendorf, allowing him to catch himself. He still -justifiably- blamed himself for the other boy's death, and it wasn't easy for him to convince himself to ask him to accomplish him on this quest now too and bring himself in danger, but if there was someone who could survive it then it was him.

Beckendorf was as a huge African-American with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer's, and hands which were calloused from working in the armory all day. He wasn't as big as he would be in a few years yet, but his form was still impressive enough to make people double-check when he told them he was just 14 years old.

Percy was pretty sure he had once thought that Beckendorf could make monsters cry for their mommies, and it was already pretty apparent that this would be the case once more in a few years.

“Jackson,” Beckendorf said gruffly but not unfriendly. “What can I do for you?”

One reason for asking Beckendorf, besides the obvious, was, that he was probably one of the nicest people alive. He had even accepted Tyson when he brought him to camp! This meant that he wouldn't deny his request to accompany him solely because of who he was like so many others would probably do.

“Well, you see...” he began, a bit uncomfortable asking the boy to risk his life by coming with him. “I had a demigod dream, and when I told Chiron about it he told me to visit the Oracle as preparation for a quest.” He could see several heads of people who not-so-sneakily listened to their conversation turning around in shock, which didn't surprise him. There hadn't been a quest in quite some time, after all. “I wondered if you would want to accompany me?” He cursed himself inwardly for sounding as childish as he did, but he couldn't help it now. Sadly the fact that his twelve years old body had a higher voice than his sixteen years old couldn't be changed.

Beckendorf glanced at his half-siblings before turning back to him with much more interest than before. “Let's talk somewhere else,” he said while pointing to the exit. “Where we can't be overheard.”

He nodded his agreement, relieved that the boy hadn't instantly turned him down.

Once they were out of earshot of the other Beckendorf started speaking again. “What did the Oracle say?”

That was a sensible question and he had definitively a right to know its content, so he told him what he already told Chiron.

Afterwards, there was a moment of silence before the other boy asked: “Why did you ask me?”

That was a bit harder to answer, considering he couldn't say he trusted him because they fought side by side in the future and that he trusted him explicitly because of his knowledge of the aforementioned future.

“Well, for one thing, you have a good reputation with the rest of the camp. Since I arrived barely three days ago I can't really reliable judge the people myself, this seemed to be a good starting point.” Beckendorf nodded understandingly, which he took as a good sign. “I also think that all the gadget you can make and your technical understanding might become very useful,” -another nod- “but most importantly: you're one of the very few who don't avoid me like I'm the plague, which means I'm more inclined to ask you than most others. Oh, and I guess that also means you're more open-minded than others, which is definitively a good thing!”

Beckendorf looked at him for a few second after he finished talking -Percy was forcefully remembered that the other boy was always a bit shy and took his time before he spoke- before he gave him a small smile. “Well then, who will be our third quest member?”

He let out a relieved sigh before returning the smile with a crooked one of his own. “Why don't you come with me and see for yourself?”

They found Annabeth training in the arena together with the rest of her siblings. Luckily she was currently resting at the sideline instead of participating in a fight, allowing the two of them to talk with her without one of her siblings listening to them.

“Excuse me?” he asked when they were close enough, not even playing his nervousness.

Annabeth looked at him calculating with her stormy grey eyes, giving him the feeling that she was analyzing him. It was just like in their first meeting all these years ago, where he thought she was thinking of the best way of taking him down should she needed to do so. Instead of feeling even more uncomfortable because of that though, the well-known feeling actually helped him to calm down.

“You got a minute?” he asked.

He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw something like curiosity flash in her eyes. _A good sign_ , he thought.

“Sure,” she said before nodding to Beckendorf as a greeting, which was something he returned.

“So, we're kinda going on a quest and-” he started before she interrupted him.

“A quest?” she exclaimed and took a step in his direction, causing him to take a step back in turn. She ignored that though and continued with wide eyes. “I want to come along! If there is someone who can solver whatever problem we come across it's me!”

“Um, that's kinda why we're here?” he said uncomfortable while scratching the back of his head. “To ask you to join us?”

If he didn't know better he would say Beckendorf was currently laughing at him inwardly.

She blinked and glanced first at Beckendorf and then at him before she visibly reigned her excitement in and cleared her throat, her cheeks now slightly reddened in embarrassment.

“And why should I accompany you?”

By the gods, was she now acting as if she wasn't interested after she just _literally_ begged them to come along? Well, two people could play this game.

“I don't know,” he said with a teasing smile. “Why don't you tell me why you should come with us? After all, I thought taking a child of Athene with us might be a good idea, but I could just as well ask one of your siblings.”

She narrowed his eyes at him, and he was sure she saw exactly what he was playing at. Still, she didn't call him out of it. “I waited for this opportunity for years, Jackson. I prepared myself for a long time, not just through training but also by reading about every possible monster and how to beat it. There is no one more prepared in this camp than me.”

His smile fell a bit when he heard her talk. He remembered that this younger Annabeth wasn't as good at reigning her fatal flaw, her hubris, in as she would be later, and even then she wasn't perfect at it. He was relatively sure she would recognize in a few minutes that what she just said was extremely arrogant, but it still proved that in the heat of the moment she would fall back to bad habits.

Not that he had any right to point fingers at her, he had enough problems with his own fatal flaw himself.

“Besides,” Annabeth added. “As a son of Poseidon, you have probably a talent for destroying stuff. Beckendorf might solve that problem by just repairing whatever you damaged, but it better if someone just stops you from doing it altogether. And who is better suited for that than a child of Athene?”

Well, that wasn't completely untrue, even if she never really managed to stop him from blowing stuff up, but the topic gave him the chance to talk about something with her he really wanted to address.

“One more thing,” he said seriously, catching her a bit off-guard. “I know Poseidon and Athena don't get along very well, but I would like to not let that affect us. I mean, I don't know about you, but I never even met my father. I don't want to let his quarrels decide who I can be friends with and with whom not. So, peace?” He stretched out his arm to her, inviting her to shake his hand.

She looked at his hand for a moment before she took his hand, some new respect in her eyes he didn't think they had this time around in the other timeline.

“Well,” she said. “A child of Athena, of Poseidon, and Hephaestus. I would say there were much worse teams in history. When do we leave?”


	6. The Lightning Thief V

** A Demigod out of time **

** The Lightning Thief  V **

It didn't take much time to pack, so they were ready to leave in the afternoon. Once again the camp store loaned them one hundred dollars and twenty golden drachmas, and he vowed to himself that he wouldn't lose them on their  _ very first day _ this time around. All three of them also got a canteen of nectar and a bag full of ambrosia squares.

Percy was kinda relieved that this time they didn't use some normal bag like the last time, but some more robust and enhanced ones made by the Hephaestus cabin.

He couldn't suppress a nostalgic smile when he saw that Annabeth also decided to take the same book about famous classical architecture he remembered. Or at least he thought it was the same, he couldn't really be sure. She had learned that there normally wasn't enough time to read a book during a quest, but he guessed this Annabeth lacked the experience to know that yet.

She would learn, he was sure.

Beckendorf carried two bags; one for casual stuff and one for all kind of odds and ends, from a pile of scraps to precise tools.

Chiron waited for them on Half-Blood Hill, sitting in his wheelchair next to the pine tree that was Thalia Grace ( _ should he try to get her out of this tree sooner? _ ) and next to him was-

“This is Argus,” Chiron said, “our camp's head of security. He will drive you into the city, but afterwards, you will be on your own.”

Percy raised an eyebrow in surprise - _ hadn't Chiron made some terrible pun about 'keeping an eye on things' the last time?- _ and greeted the other with a nod.

The moment he heard footsteps behind them he knew who was coming, and a glance over his shoulder proved him right. “Hey!” Luke panted. “Glad I caught you.”

He had hoped to leave before Luke had the chance to catch up on them. He couldn't have known for sure, but it had been pretty likely that he would once again give him these cursed sneakers of doom.

He was also uncomfortably remembered about Annabeth's crush on the boy and didn't like the way she blushed the moment he appeared at their side.

“Just wanted to wish you good luck,” he continued. “And I thought... um, maybe you could use these.”

To his surprise, he didn't give the sneaker to him, but  _ Annabeth. _

Annabeth's eyes were wide, but she visibly tried her hardest to appear nonchalant and normal. Needless to say, it didn't work. “Oh, um, thank you, but aren't that, you know, your father's...?”

Luke nodded. “Yeah, they were a present from Dad. I used them on my quest, but right now they are only catching dust in my wardrobe, you have more use of them. Besides, I would feel better if you take them, you know. With them, you can escape nearly every monster, so I don't need to fear as much about you as I would otherwise.”

Annabeth's blush was much more pronounced after he finished talking, but she held her composure admirably. “Thank you, I will not lose them!” she declared determined.

Luke laughed. “I know you will not. You know how to activate them?”

“Of course! ' _ Maia _ '” -white bird's wings sprouted out of the heels- ”to activate them, and ' _ Stasi _ '” -the wings folded up and disappeared- “to deactivate them.”

Luke nodded with a smile

He didn't know why Luke gave the shoes to Annabeth instead of him, but he knew there must be some sort of plan involved. The only thing he was reasonably sure of was that Luke certainly didn't plan for Annabeth to fall into Tartarus. For all his wrongdoings, and even his willingness to harm Annabeth in the process of his plans, he always drew the line at her death. And what was Tartarus but definitive death?

The only theory as of why Luke did what he did he could come up with was that he probably concluded that it would weird for him to give these sneakers to him, considering they knew each other for only three days in which Percy had kept him on distance, and decided to give them to Annabeth because nobody would think of that as strange.

“Well,” Beckendorf said once Luke was gone and started to make his way over to the SUV that was waiting at the other side of the hill. “I think we should go now. We have a long way ahead of us, the sooner we leave the further we get.” Annabeth nodded and followed suit, still distracted by the sneakers in her hands, but Percy lingered. He didn't know what he would do if Chiron didn't give him Riptide this time, but-

Chiron caught his arm. “You should have had more time to train, Percy. Hercules, Jason, all of them got more training.”

He gave the old centaur what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “It's okay. I have Annabeth and Beckendorf, we'll be fine.”

Chiron gave him a small, sad smile of his own before pulling a very familiar pen from his coat pocket. “It would be unfair if only Annabeth got a present, wouldn't it?” He tossed him the pen and he caught it with familiar ease, relishing in the feeling of finally holding it in his hands again. “It's a gift from your father. I have kept it for years, not knowing who I was waiting for, but it's clear to me now. You are the one.”

He took off the cap, and then the pen grew longer and heavier until he held a three feet long and about five pounds heavy sword of celestial bronze in his hands, letting him admire the sharp double-edge blade, the wrapped grip, and the flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

“The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into right now,” Chiron continued, making him think about Zoe Nightshade again. He wondered what she would have said if she knew that he destroyed her sword once before. “Its name is Anaklusmos.”

“Riptide,” he said like in a trance, still captured by the sensation of having his weapon back.

Chiron nodded with a smile. “Now recap it. And don't worry, it's enchanted to always return to your pocket. You will not be able to lose it.”

“Cool,” He finally looked up and gave Chiron a thumbs up, trying to look as confident as he could be. He didn't want his teacher to worry more than necessary. “I guess I should go now, the others are surely wondering why I need so long.”

And so he was once again on his way to retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt.

* * *

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. There had been an awkward silence ever since they started their quest, resulting in Annabeth beginning to read her book and Beckendorf starting to play around with some scraps he had brought with him.

By the time they got into Manhattan, it was already sunset. Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, just like the last time.  _ At least I'm not a national fugitive this time around,  _ he thought sardonically.  _ Or at least not yet _ .

A short time later they stood at the bus station, waiting for or ride.

“So,” he said, thinking about the Kindly Ones and how they had attacked them the last time they rode the bus. “Is there any reason we are taking the bus instead of a taxi? Or any other form of transportation, like a pegasus for example?”

Annabeth looked at him as if he was especially stupid right now. “Do you have any idea how expensive a taxi would be? We have not even close to enough money for that.”

“Riding a pegasus would be a good idea for you, as you're a son of Poseidon, but both Annabeth and I would have serve problems with them. Annabeth, as a daughter of Athena, because of the rivalry between your parents and me... well, children of Hephaestus have a problem with heights. It comes from the time Hera threw our father from Mount Olympus. I'm trying to get over it, but a prolonged flight with a pegasus just isn't feasible yet,” Beckendorf added.

“Isn't there some sort of magical way of transportation? I mean, if gods and monster are real, why not some magical subway system or something like that?” He hoped either of them knew about the Gray Sister's Taxi, the one Annabeth, Tyson and he had used once, because he couldn't bring it up himself.

“Well,” Annabeth started hesitantly, “there is one, actually. Some sort of taxi,” Percy was already fist-bumping himself inwardly for a job well done, but then Annabeth continued. “Sadly it's operators don't accept jobs from demigods on a quest, something about it 'making things too easy for us' and 'having bad experiences with that'.”

He grimaced. There goes his idea.

“I guess the idea wasn't too stupid though,” Annabeth told him without looking at him, banishing his bad mood for the moment and making him grin stupidly at her. This was the nicest thing she had said to him so far!

“Well, Wise Girl, good ideas are my speciality. Better get used to it” He ignored Beckendorf's snort from his right.

She glared at him half-heartedly, her lips twitching upwards. “I'll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh, you will.”

“We are doomed,” Beckendorf added from the sideline, his amusement audible in his voice.

They spent the rest of the wait talking about this and that, generally just having a good time. Still, he couldn't help but wonder why it was so much easier to get along with Annabeth now when they had argued and squabbled with each other all the time the last time around. Was it because he didn't hit her with toilet water when Clarisse did her thing? Maybe because they missed Capture the Flag and thus she hadn't had the opportunity to set him up against Ares' kids?

Personally, he liked to think it was because he was more mature than when he was twelve. Of course, he didn't  _ feel _ more mature, but a man could hope, couldn't he?

He also couldn't suppress the bad feeling he had, as if something was gonna completely wrong.

Sure, they would probably be forced to fight the Kindly Ones again, but they  _ should _ be fine. After all, they had managed it the last time too! And back then he was a lot less experienced and they had Grover with them instead of Beckendorf. And nothing against Grover, he was a badass satyr and all, but Beckendorf was a lot more intimidating and a better fighter.

Still, he couldn't shake this feeling off and it made him uncomfortable.

Finally, the bus came and they entered, found places together (again in the back of the bus which obviously had no back exist) and sat down. Annabeth and Beckendorf stowed their backpacks in the storage space above their heads, but he put down his between his feet. He didn't want risk losing it again, thank you very much.

He watched the other passengers on the bus, as well as the ones still entering, but couldn't spot any trio of scary old ladies. In fact, he couldn't spot anyone fitting that description outside of the bus either. The fact that they weren't here became more apparent when the doors closed and the bus started driving without him catching sight of either his old teacher or her sisters.

He should be relieved, happy even, but somehow this made his anxiety even worse. If it weren't the Kindly Ones, what else made him so nervous?

They were driving for nearly half an hour, Annabeth and Beckendorf keeping themselves busy again with the stuff the had brought with them, when he finally started to calm down. He had probably just imagined things, his knowledge of 'what should be' making him assume the worst-case scenario instead of letting him just enjoy the peace.

Obviously, that was the moment he heard the echo of a loud roar in the distance.

His head snapped around, and he could see that his companions had the same reaction while all the mortals didn't seem as if they had heard anything at all.

“What was that?” Beckendorf asked, reaching for his bag in the storage space. Percy guessed he had his weapon in there and wanted to be prepared for whatever they inevitably would face.

“I have no idea, but for a monster to be heard over such a distance...” Annabeth said.

He narrowed his eyes. He  _ knew _ this roar from somewhere, now if he could just remember where he had heard it before...

His eyes widened when he saw a glimpse of a figure in the distance.

_ The Minotaur! _

“We need to get out of here!” he whispered urgently.

“What! Why?” Beckendorf demanded, a little terror in his voice.

“I saw it, it's the Minotaur!”

“Don't say his name, Percy!” Annabeth said. “Names have-”

“That's not the time!” he interrupted her. “If he catches up with us, which will probably happen soon enough, we are the perfect target. The bus can't outrun him, and once he gets here all the mortals will die! If we leave the bus we have at least a fighting's chance and all the people will be safe!”

“Annabeth,” Beckendorf said insistently before the girl had any chance of replying. “He's right. You have an invisibility cap, don't you? Use it to go to the driver and then push the emergency stop button so we can leave.”

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, more for the sake of arguing than because she actually disagreed, but finally swallowed her protest and did as told. Less than a minute later the bus came to an abrupt stop and Percy and Beckendorf used the momentary chaos to slip through the coincidentally open doors, their and Annabeth's backpacks over their backs.

“We need to get off the street and into the woods!” Annabeth said just as another roar, much closer this time, could be heard. “The Minotaur can only run in a straight line. Once he reaches his highest speed, the trees should hinder him!”

He couldn't help but smile. S _ eems like she said the truth when she told us she read about the weaknesses of monsters to be as prepared as she could be. Not that I thought she was lying or anything! _

They ran only for a minute or two before Beckendorf called them to stop. “We can't outrun it anyway, no need to waste our energy.” Both he and Annabeth nodded. “I have some useful stuff in my bags; if I have enough time I might be able to make something that could help us.”

“We have around two or three minutes before he is here,” Annabeth said, “maybe a bit longer if his senses are as bad as I have read. Will that be enough?”

Beckendorf grimaced. “Ten minutes would be better.”

“We will stall him until you're ready,” he promised.

He might have killed the Minotaur twice already, but both times were under special circumstances; the first time was more luck than everything else, and the second time he had the Curse of Achilles. Luck was a fleeting thing, and he hadn't the curse right now, so Beckendorf's plan was the best chance they had at surviving the coming confrontation.

Unfortunately, Annabeth had been right, and barely three minutes later he could see the Minotaur stomp into the small clearing they had chosen as their battlefield.

He gulped. Now that the monster stood before him he was suddenly much less motivated to fight it than he had been before, which was rather impressive considering he hadn't been looking forward to it  _ at all _ in the first place.

The Minotaur looked just like the last time he had seen it, which was bad. As if a monster with superhuman strength wasn't enough, the Minotaur had decided to cloth up and wear an entire set of armour in addition to a large axe he remembered from the battle of Manhattan. He never thought he'd miss the view of the Minotaur in Fruit of the Loom underwear one day, but now he did.

Finding the motivation to fight that thing again was pretty much a lost cause.

It also didn't help that he felt pretty alone right now, standing opposite to their foe on his own. The knowledge that Annabeth was somewhere around, using her mother's gift to stay invisible, didn't help much with that.

Just a short while ago he had thought that he and Annabeth had a better start this time around, partly because she hadn't had the chance to set him up against the Ares cabin, but now a small,  _ traitorous _ voice in his mind that somehow resembled Kronos' voice couldn't help but make him fear what he would do if she used this opportunity to set him up  _ now _ instead.

He could have hit himself for thinking about Annabeth betraying him like that, and not even the excuse that this younger Annabeth wasn't quite the same as the one he remembered was enough to justify this fear. No matter what Annabeth, be it the younger or the older one, thought about you, she would never abandon another demigod to a monster like that.  _ Never. _ He couldn't believe that.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the Minotaur let out another roar and started to storm towards him.

The moment the fight started his instincts took over; he waited until the monster was only about thirty meters away, turned around and ran into the woods behind him. He only needed to wait a few seconds until he could hear the Minotaur do the same. He forced himself to look ahead instead of turning around, running as deep into the woods as he could until suddenly his instincts screamed at him. Knowing better than to doubt his gut feeling he instantly jumped to the side, just in time to escape the rampaging monster that had been behind him. Without hesitation, he jumped back on his feet and ran back towards the clearing.

Their plan was simple: buy enough time for Beckendorf to finish whatever he was building so that they didn't need to actually fight the Minotaur if they could help themselves. They would wait on the clearing until it stormed towards them and then run into the woods, hoping that all the trees were hindering it enough to buy them more time before it could get back to them. Then repeat.

He entered the clearing again and continued to run until he reached its other end, waiting for the Minotaur to attack him again.

It was less than a minute later, much less time than they had hoped, that the monster appeared from the woods again, and this time there wasn't a staredown between them. He wasted no time and ran into the woods once again, only to return to the clearing by running around a big tree out of sight of the Minotaur when he heard the monster getting close to him again.

This was when the plan went wrong.

He hadn't even finished half of the way he needed to run before he would reach the other end of the clearing when the Minotaur ran out of the woods, barely twenty meters behind him.

Hie eyes widened and he could feel his heart pounding painfully in his chest. He instantly knew that there was no chance he could reach the woods before the Minotaur reached him, so he changed the plan. He thought back to what his mother had told him all these years ago and stopped running, waiting for the monster to come closer.

It ran at him with his head bent forward, aiming to maim him with its horns, while raising its axe high in the air with its right hand. Seconds felt like hours, and Percy could swear that he could feel the ground shake with every step it made.

He waited until the very last moment to jump to his left, escaping just barely first the axe it swung at him from its right and then the monster itself. Ignoring the weapon that slashed through the air just a few centimetres from his head, he swung his own weapon at the monster's knee, only to be disappointed when he hit it's armour instead.

He didn't waste any time though and instantly started to run back to the edge of the clearing as soon as he got back to his feet. After all, just because the Minotaur figured out their initial plan didn't mean he couldn't use the trees to his advantage.

He didn't turn around when the Minotaur let out another angry roar, nor did he turn around when he could feel the ground starting to vibrate again once the monster began to run after him, starting to catch up. Instead, he continued to run straight in the direction of the thickest tree he could see. Only when he had nearly reached it he threw a glance over his shoulder, and he needed all his willpower not to scream; the Minotaur was not far behind, holding his axe with both hands and preparing to cut him in half.

With renewed energy he ran as fast as he could, praying to all gods that would hear him to let him reach the tree in time.

It were his instincts that saved his life once again.

He was only about five meters away from his goal when he heard a whistle cut through the clearing and before he knew what he was doing he jumped forward, just to the side of the tree. A moment later the blades of the axe swung through the air at the position he had been a second ago, continuing on its path until it hit the oak tree he had tried to reach so desperately.

It cut nearly completely through its six-meter thick trunk.

He had not much time stare at this sign, as the Minotaur, who was not able to stop in its tracks so easily once it started running, rammed against the trunk with a loud clang.

With a lot of groaning and cracking the oak tree, which had been an imposing and strong looking barrier of wood less than a minute before, fell.

In any other situation, he would have watched this process with an open mouth, wondering how something so strong could be felled so easily. He would have mourned for the wood nymph that must have died in this attack. Maybe he would even have felt disheartening. But all he could do right now was to stare at the Minotaur's head, wondering if he should laugh or not, for where should have been the beast's second horn, all that was left was a white stump. The rest of it was stuck in the fallen trunk.

This decision was made for him when he saw the monster's surprised expression (or at least as much as a bull could show such an expression) and heard its confused huff; he couldn't help himself and snorted. And how could he not? Once again he fought the Minotaur, and once again he lost a horn. And this time not even because of him, or at least not directly!

Sadly this caught the monster's attention and it turned all its attention to him.

He gulped.

He jumped to his feet and wanted to swing his sword at it again, this time aiming at a part that wasn't protected by armour, but never got the chance because the Minotaur roared again, now angrier than ever, and hit him with a backhand blow of his free hand. The next thing Percy knew was that he was lying on his back several maters away from his prior position.

The first thing that went through his head was gratefulness that he had had enough time to put on some armour before the fight. He had been able to raise his left arm to block the blow that would have otherwise hit his head, and he was sure that it would be useless now instead of just hurting like Tartarus hadn't he worn some protective armour.

He narrowed his eyes at his foe who was slowly coming closer to him with a victorious expression on its face and tried to vanish all the white flecks that were hindering his vision. He tried to stand up, but his legs felt like jelly and he had no strength in his arms left, so the process was slow.

_ Now would be a great moment for you to help me, Annabeth,  _ he thought.

Suddenly the Minotaur roared in agony, and Percy caught a glimpse of a nasty wound at the beast's neck before it covered it with one of his gigantic hands. The monster than proceeded to shook around and buckle like a rodeo bull, and that was all he needed to see to know that Annabeth was on it's back.

He resumed his efforts to stand up, desperately wanting to help Annabeth. There was no way he would let her get killed by the beast that had taken his mother from him once before, especially not because this time it would probably end to be a permanent separation instead of only a temporary one.

He finally managed to stand up just in time to see Annabeth -who must have lost her cap at some point- falling from the monster's back to the ground. He had no idea how she did it, but somehow she must have managed to loosen the straps that held the armour together, leaving the beast vulnerable. He had no time to celebrate though, as the next moment the Minotaur grabbed Annabeth by her throat and lifted her into the air.

His vision got blurry, and suddenly he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing; one moment it was Annabeth that was lifted into the air, and the next moment it was his mother. Blonde hair was replaced by brown one before changing back to blonde, the fists that were pummeling in the air and the legs that were ineffectively kicking at the monster were continuously changing between that of a young girl and that of an adult woman, and he could hear two different voices choke out his name. It was like two videos were played at the same time and the scenes overlapped with each other, making it impossible for him to find out which video was the right one. All he knew was that he couldn't let the Minotaur kill its victim, no matter whether it was Annabeth or his mother.

Anger replaced his dizziness and newfound strength burned through his limbs. He grabbed his sword so tightly that his fist was white, but he ignored it. With all the power that his rage-fueled body could muster and an inhuman roar, he threw his sword.

The weapon spun through the air for less than a second before it hit its goal, resulting in Annabeth falling to the ground and starting to gasp for air.

The Minotaur looked dumbly at the stump that once was his right arm for a few moments before it let out an agonizing scream that drowned out every other sound on the clearing and the surrounding woods. Then it proceeded by ignoring Annabeth and directing it's gaze solely on him, making him feel satisfaction for all of three seconds before it changed into dread when the realization that he had no weapon set in.

He looked around in a panic when the monster pawed the ground and prepared to charge at him, desperately searching for a weapon of sorts. His sword was too far away, making it impossible to reach even if the monster wouldn't be between it and him, and there wasn't any other weapon-

_ The horn! _ he suddenly thought. He had managed to kill the Minotaur with it once before, so why not again? But then, the monster was even closer to the fallen tree than him. His chances to reach it before getting killed were small, but not zero. Sadly his time to plan was cut short when the monster started to charge.

He prepared himself to use the same old strategy of jumping to the side at the last possible moment, hoping that the missing arm would prevent it from grabbing him even though he figured this trick out already, only to stare in surprise when the Minotaur let out another scream and fell to one knee after only a few steps.

He didn't need to search long figure out why: there, in the hollow of his knee, stuck a knife. A short glance behind the beast at Annabeth only further strengthen his suspicion as of where the weapon came from as her hand was still outstretched, just as if she had just thrown something. His chest filled with new hope; with this additional injury, the monster should be slower than before, improving his chances to get himself a weapon tremendously. Now he only needed to-

A whistle could be heard, and one second later an arrow made of celestial bronze and with some weird capsule at its end embedded itself into the Minotaur's chest. The monster didn't react as much to it as it did to the previous injuries and just grunted before it laid down his axe and made to grab for the arrow, presumably to pull it out. It never got the chance though, because the next moment his chest area was consumed by a small explosion of green fire.

Percy recognized what it was instantly, having seen it before often enough:  _ Greek Fire _ .

The amount of it used in the attack wasn't enough to kill the Minotaur, but it seriously hurt it. The monster roared and simultaneously tried to extinguish the flames and to attack his new, invisible enemy, but not finding anyone.

Then another arrow hit him, this time at his shoulder, and this one exploded as well.

The Minotaur, who had just been in the process of trying to stand up, roared again, noticeable weaker than before, before falling back on his knees. A clear sign of his falling energy levels was the fact that he now needed to support himself with his remaining arm to not lay flat on the ground.

The next time an arrow hit him and exploded, having hit his hips this time, the beast's voice was barely audible above the sound of the explosion.

When the fourth arrow hit him at his neck Percy knew that this would be the last one. The green fire exploded once again, the bright light of it making it impossible to look directly in its direction. Percy turned back once the light vanished, just in time to see the Minotaur's head disintegrate in golden dust.

He stared at the pile of monster dust for a few moments, silently wondering how he managed to survive another encounter with a monster as dangerous as the Minotaur, but turned his head when he could see a figure running towards their position from the corner of his vision. It was Beckendorf, carrying something that remotely reminded him on a crossbow.

“Hey!” the older boy called once he reached them. “Are you two alright? Here, take some ambrosia. You look like shit.”

He took the offered food thankfully before exhaustion overcame him and he let himself fall to the ground, favouring sitting over standing for now. He threw a glance at Annabeth to see how she was and felt relief when he saw that she was fine. Exhausted, but fine. She sent him a small smile when she saw him looking at her, and he couldn't help but remember a saying he had heard once, about finding your true friends on the battlefield, when he returned the smile.

“I'm sorry that I needed so long,” Beckendorf said once he had given both of them some ambrosia. “But it was harder to build this thing” -he pointed at the crossbow that was laying next to him on the grass- “than I thought. Well, not really the crossbow, more like the arrows. You can't be too careful when you're handling Greek Fire, you know?”

He was pretty sure that he could spot his pride for creating this weapon through all his worry, and he really couldn't begrudge him for it. It was really impressive, after all.

“So it  _ really  _ was Greek Fire.” Annabeth mused, her voice still raw from being choked by the Minotaur. “Wasn't it a bit risky to use it? What if you started a forest fire?”

Beckendorf grinned, which stood in a surprisingly big contrast to his usual permanent scowl. “My cabin experimented a bit with the recipe. This mixture isn't as strong as the original, which makes it less risky to handle. It also has the additional benefit of extinguishing it's own flames after one or two seconds if the amount of liquid used for the explosion is rather small, which means that there was no risk at all.”

_ That explains why the Minotaur wasn't set on fire after each explosion _ , he thought.

Annabeth's eyes started to shine in a way he recognized as one of the signs of her becoming intrigued, and he decided to intervene before she could start asking questions.

“Anyway,” he said loudly. “I think we should make our camp for the night right here.” He glanced at the rapidly darkening sky. “It will be night soon, and I have no energy left to start searching for another place to rest for the night.”

Both his companions looked at him and nodded after a few seconds.

Beckendorf stood up. “You two should rest some more, I didn't lie when I said you two look like shit. I will get our stuff and prepare everything.”

Percy sent the other boy a thankful smile before running his hand through his hair and letting himself fall back to lay on the grass. He knew they wouldn't have much time to rest, that was a constant through all his quests so far. It was better to relax and regenerate every chance you got, and that was exactly what he planned to do for now.


	7. The Lightning Thief VI

** A Demigod out of time **

** The Lightning Thief VI **

_ He was in the Underworld, running away from the Pit. He had no idea how he landed in this situation, all he could remember was running and running some more running. _

_ But it was a futile venture. No matter how much he ran, he couldn't escape the Pit's gravity. _

_ He tried as hard as he could to pace forwards, and later, when he noticed that it was useless and he was pulled closer and closer to the Pit anyway, he tried to hold on whatever he could find to keep himself in place. Still, the pull got only stronger and at some point, after what felt like an eternity, he fell into the darkness. _

“ _ You are too exhausted to continue fighting...” _

“ _ You were outmatched from the start, but now?” _

“ _ Give up now, and I will grant you a quick and painless death.” _

_ The only thing that filled the endless darkness was Kronos voice, repeating the things the Titan Lord had told him once before in the throne room of the gods, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make a sound of his own to drown out the titan's voice. It was as if someone had used a remote control to mute him like a noisy TV. _

“ _ At least you can die with the knowledge that it was the new ruler of the world who killed you...” _

_ Suddenly there was a blinding light and the next thing he knew was that he stood in front of Thalia's Pine Tree. _

_ His eyes widened. The tree wasn't like he remembered it from before he took off with Annabeth and Beckendorf, but like the time Luke had poisoned it. In fact, the tree looked even worse than it had back then. If he were forced to guess, he would say that the tree would be dead before the end of the day. _

“ _ You failed me!” _

_ He jumped around while his hands reached with one hand for his weapon, only to find Riptide missing. The moment he saw who had spoken though and took a shocked step back.  _

_ There was Thalia, looking not much better than the tree behind his back; her skin was yellow, there were dark bags under her eyes, and her head missed bushels of hair in some places as if it had been ripped out. _

_ He opened his mouth without knowing what would come out of it, only knowing that he needed to say something, but someone beat him to it. _

“ _ You couldn't safe me!” _

_ Like out of thin air another person appeared at Thalia's side, a young girl his age with silky dark hair and black eyes that gleamed with as much hate as he could see in Thalia's gaze. He would recognize her anywhere, remembering how he was responsible for her death; Bianca di Angelo. _

_ He looked at the girl open-mouthed, letting his eyes tailing down on her shredded and blood-soaked clothes and her broken limbs. “No,” he croaked, “I didn't-” _

“ _ You promised me!”  _

_ There, at Bianca's side, appeared a little boy who could not be older than ten; Nico. _

“ _ You promised me you would keep her safe, that you would bring her back! You promised!” the boy said accusingly, and Percy couldn't help but think that it was wrong that the younger boy wasn't screaming but talking with a normal volume. _

_ There was a 'thud' and a sudden pain in his chest, and when he looked down he saw Riptide stick out of his body.  _

_ “ W-What th e-” h e gasped as blood filled his lungs and mouth, and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder to see a copper-skinned girl with long, dark hair glaring at him with dark brown eyes. _

“ _ Z-Zoe, why-” he began, only to be interrupted. _

“ _ You're not worthy of my sword anymore. Not after breaking it, not after all your failures.” _

_ The last thing he could see before the world went black once again were the stares the four people were sending him, disappointment and anger gleaming in their eyes, and when his vision went blank he would swear he could hear laughter in the distance. _

* * *

Percy woke up with a gasp, throwing his head hectically from one side to the other and only calmed down when he couldn't see any person from his dream standing close by.

He sighed and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of sweat running down his back. He had had the occasional nightmare since he arrived in the past, but none of them had been as bad as this one.

_ Maybe it's because I'm on a quest again? _

Another short glance over his shoulder showed him Beckendorf sitting at a small fire a few meters away, and Annabeth laying sleeping not too far away from him. He was relieved that neither of them noticed him waking up, the notion of them trying to talk with him about his dream making him uncomfortable. He stayed at his place for another few minutes to calm hie heartbeat, indecisive what to do, before deciding that he would probably not find any more sleep this night and that he could just as well keep watch and let Beckendorf rest a few hours before the went on their way.

Beckendorf had 'convinced' Annabeth and him that he would keep watch all night, arguing that the both of them needed the break more than him and that he was used to staying awake all night from the times he worked on some project in the forge anyway, but Percy thought it wouldn't be too hard making the other boy go to sleep. Used to it or not, it wasn't easy staying awake all night if you hadn't had anything to do.

* * *

He kicked some random stone lying around.

They have been on the road for about two hours now, and he started to get bored. Logically he knew that this was stupid, that he should enjoy every moment of peace he could get and that they would probably be attacked by some monster soon enough, but he couldn't help himself. Walking around and not doing anything was just boring, and it gave him even more time to think about stuff he didn't want to think about  _ at all _ .

“Didn't you sleep well? You still look dead on your feet.” Annabeth broke the silence first, looking at him expectantly and waiting for his answer.

He suppressed a grimace. He didn't want to say the truth, but lying to Annabeth was easier said than done. His only advantage was that she didn't know him too well yet, making it a bit harder for her to look through him. “Nah,” he said without looking at her, “it's alright. I'm just no used to sleep with only a sleeping bag between me and the hard ground. Not really comfy, you know?”

She nodded but didn't look like she was truly listening to him, and Percy got the feeling that she did want to ask him something else and only used this as a transition to get to the real topic.

“You know,” Beckendorf spoke up, “you could have slept some more. Comfortable or not, more sleep would have done you well. Annabeth is right, you don't look fit.”

Yeah, he doubted more sleep would have helped, thank you very much.

“I'm alright,” he said dismissively while rolling his eyes. “I couldn't have slept any more even if I tried anyway.”

“By the way, you really did well yesterday. It's actually hard to believe you only found out about the Greek World less than a week ago, you know? The way you fought the monster yesterday without freezing at its sight was really impressive,” Annabeth changed the topic.

“Thank you, I guess,” he said, trying to sound casual and maybe a bit embarrassed while his thoughts were running wild to find some excuse for his behaviour during the fight. He should have known that Annabeth would notice it that he acted more like a veteran than a newbie, damn it!

“Have you fought other monster before, Percy?” Beckendorf asked, and the moment he saw the other boy's gleaming eyes he was sure that he wondered the same thing as Annabeth. Luckily this question gave him exactly the excuse he needed.

“Well, there was my pre-algebra teacher, Mrs Dodds. She tried to kill me at a school trip, but later Grover and Chiron, who was my Latin teacher, by the way, used the mist to make everyone forget about her. Made me think I went mad or something. Chiron kinda appeared at the last possible moment and threw me a sword, and then I somehow managed to kill her. Now that I think about it, it was just like yesterday; I just  _ knew _ what I needed to do, how to swing the sword, and how to move to not to die.” He gave them a small smile. “Honestly, it's still kinda hard to believe that one of the Furi-”

“Don't say its name!” Annabeth and Beckendorf exclaimed at the same time.

“Honestly Percy,” Annabeth continued, “you should know that saying a monster's name is dangerous. I told you myself just yesterday!”

He blinked, slightly surprised at their strong reaction. “Well, yes, Chiron and my mom said the same thing, but nobody actually explained  _ why _ it's so dangerous.”

Annabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Names have power, Percy. Speaking them out loud might can dire consequences.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, wow, that explains it of course!” he said sarcastically. “Thank you, Wise Girl, for this detailed and instructive explanation!”

She seemed confused for a moment, making him realize that he had called her by his nickname for her for the first time, but then she opened her mouth to answer only to be beaten to it by Beckendorf:

“It's so dangerous because they can feel it if you say their name. It doesn't matter so much at Camp Half-Blood because its barriers stop monsters -but not gods- from noticing us, but we still try not to use their names even there to not get used to doing so.”

He blinked. Honestly, he was part of the Greek World for years now but no one had ever thought to explain this to him? “So I only need to say their name and they will come flocking to me?”

“Well, not exactly.” Beckendorf shrugged. “If they are too far away they wouldn't notice. But considering that we have no idea which distance counts as 'close enough' it's not worth gambling our lives on it, is it?”

“Probably not, no.”

He just wanted to continue the conversation -hey, no better time for some team bonding than during a walk in the woods- when he saw something between the trees ahead of them. He frowned, somehow recognizing the building but not rememb-

_ No way _ , he thought disbelieving.

There in front of them was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary, and with a neon sign reading “AUNTY EM'S GARDEN GNOME EMPORIUM”.

He had no idea how this was possible. He remembered quite vividly that Medusa's lair had been located at a two-lane street with a closed-down gas station on the other side, and not too far away from the main street. This was certainly not the case right now; not only was there no sign of a gas station, but the lair was had seemingly  _ somehow _ appeared in the midst of the woods with only a one-lane street that could only hardly called a such leading away from it.

He was suddenly remembered of the Monster Donut shop he and Annabeth had encountered some years ago, and what she had told him about them. What if Medusa's lair had some similar magic that allowed it to appear close to whatever demigod was in the area, similar to the way Monster Donut shops appeared out of thin air because of the was they are connected to a monster's life force?

And now that he was already thinking about magic, hadn't there been some sort of enchantment that confused the mind?

“Okay, am I the only one who thinks it's highly suspicious that a gnome emporium is located here of all places?” Beckendorf asked.

Annabeth slowly nodded. “It doesn't seem natural, no.”

“So it's probably a trap,” Beckendorf grimly concluded before suddenly starting to grin slightly. “Shall we trigger it?”

He could feel his lips twitching upwards as well. Why not kill Medusa again? They had managed it before, and if the incident with the Minotaur proved one thing, then that it was possible to repeat his actions from the other timeline in this world. There was nothing the three of them couldn't achieve!

Besides, he needed her head anyway. After all, how else could his mother possible petrify Gabe? She needed the money from selling his 'statue' to go back to school, after all. He  _ needed _ to kill Medusa.

He was just making the first step in direction of the warehouse, his hand already grabbing for Riptide, when Annabeth finally spoke up to answer Beckendorf.

Annabeth answered his grin with one of her own. “Well, why not? What are the odds that it's something more dangerous than the Minotaur?”

He stopped in his tracks. Had Annabeth just said a monster's name out loud? Literally less than a minute after they spoke about the dangers of doing so? There was no way she would do something like this, unless...

Unless something was wrong with her mind!

_ Damn it! _ he thought. He had just thought about how something had affected his and Annabeth's mind the last time they had been here. He knew that this was the case and  _ still _ had nearly fallen for it. Nah, scratch that, he  _ had _ fallen for it! Only because the effect was slightly different from before, manipulating their pride instead of their hunger and exhaustion, he had nearly overlooked the obvious. He needed to be  _ better _ than this!

_ But this revelation doesn't change the fact that your mother needs Medusa's head,  _ a dark voice whispered in his head.  _ Would it be right to take this away from her? Wouldn't that mean that she needs to stay with “Smelly Gabe”? _

He hesitated just for one moment, unsure what to do before he shook his head to banish these thoughts. There were other ways to get rid of Gabe, he would do it himself if absolutely necessary. Or maybe just inform the Hunt, he doubted they wouldn't take care of him if he told them some of the things he knew about the man.

Decision made he turned to his companions.

“No!” he said forcefully. “Why should we risk our lives in an obvious trap if we can just walk around it?”

Both looked at him as if  _ he _ was the crazy one, and it was Annabeth who spoke up first with this irritating 'I-know-better-than-you-so-shut-up' look on her face that she got sometimes. “Percy, why should-”

“Spiders,” he interrupted her dryly, using the same strategy he had once used to break her out of the magic of the Lotus Hotel. “Big, hairy spider.”

She blinked in surprise, and he felt relieved when he saw her eyes regaining the focus they had lost under the effect of Medusa's magic. “What?”

“Come on, Percy,” Beckendorf chimed in. “This is a chance to prove ourselves! Don't tell me you don't want to show off to your father, make him proud?”

Freeing Beckendorf from the magic's effect was a bit harder, and he would need to gamble, but he was reasonably sure he knew what he would need to say. “Do you think Silena would like you to throw your life away in a quest for fame? Because I doubt it.”

The moment his eyes lost its glassy look he know he had won.

“What the-”

“We have no time for that!” he interrupted Beckendorf before he could finish his sentence and gabbed both him and Annabeth at one arm. “Come on, let's get away from here before the monster decides to come looking for us instead of waiting in its lair.”

And with that, he started to pull the two with him as fast as they would let him, ignoring all their questions for now.

* * *

All he had wished for was a restful night of dreamless sleep, but he should have known better by now; that wasn't about to happen anytime soon.

He was standing in some dark cavern with spirits of the dead drifting around him, and he needed approximately three seconds to recognize this place as the Underworld. And of course, he wasn't just anywhere in the Underworld but close to the Pit, and the moment the voice started to speak to another unseen person he remembered the last time he had listened in to such a conversation.

“The son of Poseidon is different from what I expected,” Kronos drawled, his numbing powerful voice addressing his subordinate. “We might need to change our plans.”

“I don't understand,” the other person, which Percy now knew was Luke, said. “You said manipulating Ares into giving them the bolt would be an excellent idea, why change this plan now? And wouldn't it have been much easier if I had brought it directly to-”

“You failed in that task, little servant,” Kronos' amused voice cut him short. “This plot with Ares was just a little idea I came up with when I needed to save you after the fool of a war god caught you, even if it was a very successful one.”

“But then, why change it now? What's so special about the boy?” Luke asked tensely.

Kronos scoffed. “I'm not surprised you didn't notice. The boy is too  _ aware _ , too confident. The way he freed himself and his companions from the magic surrounding Medusa's lair is just another proof for that.”

“Medusa's lair...?” Luke murmured comment was ignored by Kronos.

“The danger of the boy noticing the weapon is too great. No, we will play it safe and wait a while longer. Let Ares think that he is in control, let him use the weapons as he sees fit to start a war between my sons. Once this war started it will be easy enough to get the weapons to me, especially with everyone's attention being elsewhere.”

“When you say Percy is 'too aware' you're not only talking about his ability to sense magic, do you?” Luke asked, making Kronos laugh.

“Good, good. That's why I chose you, because you're clever.” His voice got serious again. “You already know that a demigod's aura gets stronger once they know what they are. What you  _ don't _ know is that this isn't a sudden process; while it's true that a demigod's aura gets exceptionally stronger the moment they are told the truth, it continues to grow for several weeks. This boy's aura is different though, it didn't grow any stronger since the moment he arrived at your little camp. His aura is also stronger than I would have expected such a child young to posses, even if he's one of my son's children.”

“Does that mean he was told the truth earlier? That he lied to everyone?" Luke exclaimed, and Percy could hear real surprise in his voice. There was a moment of silence -Percy suspected Kronos gave Luke time to phrase what he wanted to ask- before Luke continued. “Then why don't manipulate him? The prophecy-”

“The boy doesn't resent his father, or the other gods for that matter. Oh, I can feel some lingering anger, some disappointment, but nothing that would be enough to turn him. In fact, he seems to hold his father in surprisingly high esteem. I suspect his mother told him about his heritage much earlier than the boy has claimed; probably filling his head with lies and half-truths. No, the boy will never join us.”

“...what's you plan, my lord?” Luke asked hesitantly.

Percy felt the room temperature fall, making him think that he would be able to see his breath had he had a body in this dream, and Kronos voice cut through the room like a knife through butter. “He's too dangerous. We need to make sure that he isn't the child of the prophecy, or all our plans might fail.”

* * *

He paid only enough attention to his surroundings to not walk into a tree while he followed a few meters behind Annabeth and Beckendorf, ignoring the looks they were throwing at him when they weren't whispering conspiratorially with each other.

The dream last night had disturbed him greatly, and he was glad that Kronos hadn't noticed him listening in this time around. He didn't want to know what the consequences would have been otherwise. But he had other things to worry than to think about, like the _ very real _ consequences of what he had heard for example.

Kronos wanted him dead, apparently, which hadn't been the case last time around. This meant that there wouldn't be any grace period (actually, had there been one the last time? He didn't know) during which the Titan Lord would try to make him turn against the gods. Who knew what kind of monsters he would send after him now?

Also, more immediate, Ares would probably not give them the lightning bolt. Or Hades' helm, for that matter. If that was the case, he would need to get his hands on them somehow differently, but he didn't know how...

_ You shall find what was stolen, but a price must be paid,  _ that's what the prophecy had said. It probably meant that he would need to give Ares something that would make him give up the objects on his own, without Kronos' influence. If he only knew what this was...


End file.
